Bhubaneswar: Amid rising fears of grid collapse owing to imbalanced load during ‘blackout’ urged by Prime Minister Modi, state government Sunday said street lights, lights in hospitals and other essential services will remain on at 9:00pm this Sunday and urged energy consumers to refrain from switching off home appliances.
In view of Prime Minister’s appeal for voluntarily switching-off house lights at 9.00pm for nine minutes to show solidarity with fellow citizens during COVID-19 lockdown, residential, housing societies and residential apartments are requested not to switch off/on their main supply at feeder/ main level for sudden decrease and increase of load during 9.00pm and 9.09pm respectively, a notification issued by the state energy department said.
“Running appliances such as fan, refrigerator and AC etc should not be switched off during this period. Do not switch off/on all lights at once. It may be done in a staggered manner,” said the notification.
The department urged the public to adhere to the measures for smooth and reliable operation and safety of the power system during this period.
— Energy Odisha (@EnergyOdisha) April 4, 2020
It may be mentioned here that in his 9:00am video message to the nation Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged people to switch off lights of their homes at 9:00pm for nine minutes April 5 and light up lamps, candles and mobile flashlights to display the nation’s collective spirit to defeat coronavirus.
In view of the Prime Minister’s appeal to switch off lights, people may continue running other appliances such as TVs, refrigerators and ACs in their homes without any apprehension, Odisha governments COVID-19 spokesman Subroto Bagchi had said Saturday.
Similarly, street lights along with lights in hospitals and other essential services will remain on, Bagchi had said adding that the housing societies and residential apartments have been requested not to switch off their main supply at the feeder.
People are also requested to switch on the lights of their homes after 9.09 pm, progressively, with some time intervals, he said