New Delhi: The unrelenting heat across most of North and Central India has already been a cause of concern for the people, and now there is severe power crisis in the capital.
Most areas in Delhi are facing load shedding of eight to 10 hours leading to a serious water shortage as well. And tempers are rising.
A large number of people gathered near Delhi Finance Minister A K Walia's house early Saturday morning to protest against power cuts in the area. The protestors also blocked the busy Vikas Marg around 12:30 am and burnt tyres.
Meanwhile, residents in an East Delhi colony ransacked a BSES office.
On Friday, demand for electricity in Delhi touched 4200 MW, wherein the city can support only 3200 MW. This was a staggering shortfall of 1000 megawatts. One megawatt is enough power to run a 20,000 tubelights.
Apart from the grim power situation, it's not looking very good on the water front either. According to the Environment Ministry's latest data water levels in over 80 critical reservoirs in the country are less than half of last year's levels with practically no water at the Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir in Karnataka.
The report also said that Tungabhadra dam in Karnataka, Tehri in Uttarakhand and Pong dam in Himachal have less than six per cent of their capacities. The total water storage in 21 of the 81 reservoirs are just five per cent or less.
Even rivers are running dry. Water levels in the Ganga, Indus, Narmada, Sabarmati, Godavari are all at levels of 10 per cent or less of their full capacity.