Can impact grid: Jairam, Tharoor on PM’s light call

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4

Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Shashi Tharoor on Saturday flagged concerns around Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Sunday 9 pm “switch off lights, light a diya” call saying it could deeply impact the power grid.

Twitter saw back and forth over the issue with entrepreneur Mohandas Pai allaying concerns and saying there was no reason to worry about grids because most commercial activity is already shut and domestic consumption is largely low energy.

Read: PM Modi’s appeal is to switch off lights, not appliances: Power ministry

Former minister Jairam Ramesh said: “As somebody who has been associated with the power sector for almost three decades including as minister, the call to go dark for 9 min at 9pm on the 5th can have deep impact on the grid and its stability. I sincerely hope this is being properly managed.”

Similar worry was expressed by MP Shashi Tharoor who said: “An unprecedented drop in electricity demand at 9pm Sunday &an immediate surge at 9.09 pm could cause the electrical grid to crash. So Electricity Boards are contemplating load shedding from 8 pm & staggered return to normal after 9.09pm. One more thing the PM didn’t think about!”

Reacting to Tharoor, Pai said Tharoor was a juvenile MP.

”This juvenile MP has suddenly Become an expert in electrical engineering; lighting is only 20-25% of domestic consumption which is 15-20% of overall consumption; Most commercial is already shut down! homes today have LED lighting which is low energy consumption,” Pai said.