As if the soaring temperature was not enough trouble during the summer months, power outages across the country – owing to a shortage of coal – have added to the woes of citizens. The sweltering heat has, however, hardly dampened the enthusiasm for memes and netizens have been churning out new ones under the hashtags #PowerCrisis and #PowerCuts.
India’s power sector woes are likely to get worse in the coming days with record-high power demands amid the heatwave that has added to the pressure on thermal power plants already struggling with low coal inventories. The central government has even decided to cancel several passenger train services to allow for faster movement of coal carriages.
While the government has started to act in a bid to resolve the matter quickly, in many states people have been left without power for hours, including Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
While some took to social media to vent their frustration, others quipped that they do not have enough battery left in their phones to tweet their complaints. Some, including public servants, posted funny videos and memes to make light of the situation.
In Jammu these days 😓 #PowerCrisis #PowerCut pic.twitter.com/pOUbutT4he
— Tahir Ashraf (@Tahir_A) April 29, 2022
Inverter battery shop owners after power crisis.#PowerCut #PowerCrisis #CoalShortage pic.twitter.com/qmVZVEroYt
— Dirghayu Dave (@DaveDirghayu) April 30, 2022
Elon Musk has a plan for power crisis.@elonmusk#PowerCrisis #PowerCut pic.twitter.com/pygWplfzsr
— Ministry Of Sarcasm (@M_OfSarcasm) April 30, 2022
Electricity in whole India, Nowadays #PowerCut #PowerCrisis #electricity pic.twitter.com/R3Txkn1jqr
— Abhinav Hariom Pandey | ExAMs – 27 April to 18 May (@Abhi_hariom) April 30, 2022
Electricity in my state in every 3-4 hour#PowerCut pic.twitter.com/PmZMoKbI3c
— Prithvi Kalra (@_Prithvi_kalra) April 30, 2022
People from states facing power cut issue on a hot summer day #powercut pic.twitter.com/GlR94weejl
— ayy.aisha (@igetlamerr) April 30, 2022
When your mobile has 4% battery and there is a Powercut in your city.
#PowerCrisis #PowerCut pic.twitter.com/bfkZ5n2CtM— Nocturnal Soul (@Mirage_gurrl) April 30, 2022
Electricity after every 30 mins #PowerCut pic.twitter.com/nkiObQ6ack
— Sarcasm ™️ (@SarcasticRofl) April 29, 2022
Power outage during summers
Me:#PowerCut #summer #Heatwave pic.twitter.com/jflT1edshk— ANMOL KAUR (@anmol_banga) April 29, 2022
#electricity #CoalCrisis
Indians right now: pic.twitter.com/IusO4MAeHh— UdayB (@UdayBansalll) April 29, 2022
Me right now #PowerCut pic.twitter.com/wl3tRUF43W
— Parikshit khanna (@iparikshitdevil) April 29, 2022
Meanwhile, the railways decided to cancel 753 trips, involving 42 trains, to prioritise the delivery of coal rakes across the country, mostly from key coal-producing states, including Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.
On April 28, India faced a shortage of 192.1 million units of power as peak demand reached a new all-time high of 204.6 GW. On average, India’s thermal power plants had less than eight days’ worth of coal stock on Thursday against the norm of 24 days. Last week, the total electricity shortage in India hit 623 million units, surpassing the total shortage in all of March.
