[Marxistindia] Risks of a Nationwide Blackout

[news from the cpi(m)]

April 04, 2020

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued  
the following statement:


Risks of a Nationwide Blackout


The Prime Minister’s call to switch off lights for 9 minutes on Sunday  
night to ‘fight’  COVID-19 poses a real threat to the country’s  
electrical system -- the national grid. What could happen to the grid  
with the simultaneous switching off and on of all household lighting  
load, roughly 15% to 20% of the grid’s power? The grid could turn  
unstable and collapse. We could then have a cascading blackout, like  
it happened over most of India in July 2012. Bringing the grid  
operations back to normal can take at least 2-3 days. Imagine the  
consequences for our hospitals, the doctors, health workers and  
patients in our crucial battle against COVID-19. Imagine  what would  
happen to all of us in the dark, locked up in our houses.

The National and State grid authorities have already warned the  
central and state governments of the danger to the grid. The PM should  
immediately withdraw this call of a self-imposed blackout of the nation.

If the grid trips, the country will have to face the consequences of  
no electricity, and no ability to fight the epidemic till power is  
restored. This is a risk that the county, reeling under the current  
lockdown and the COVID-19 epidemic, cannot, and must not, take.




(for CPI(M) Central Committee Office)