CHANDIGARH - The Punjab electricity board has imposed compulsory power cuts, often up tp 16 hours, across the state including urban areas to ensure electricity for farmers.

Additionally, it has also imposed a continuous 72-hour power cut every week for industrial units.

A power board official said about 60 percent of Punjab’s farmers are dependent on rains for irrigation, but the weak monsoon this year has led to less water being released from Bhakra dam.

“This has hit paddy transplantation. We have to ensure at least six to eight hours of power supply for farmers, and have to do this with very limited resources. We cannot avoid power cuts for at least another month,” he added.

The decision, in the height of summer, however, has left consumers - average citizens and industry - fuming.

What is strange is that during the elections, there was no problem, but the situation suddenly changed after that, said Anuradha Bhasin, a government employee and a resident of Dera Bassi town, some 25 km.

Added Abhishek Mangal, a college student from Patiala, around 60 km from here: I do not understand why, when we are paying the same amount of tax as residents of other cities, there is a disparity when it comes to power distribution.

Industry is unhappy too. The decision to impose a three-day compulsory power cut every week has come as a shock, said Mohali Industries Association president B.S. Anand.

Industry has to pay wages to workers, minimum electricity charges and there is the added pressure of VAT. How can we manage all these things if production falls because of insufficient power? Anand asked IANS.

According to him around 1,200 units in the Mohali industrial area are on the verge of closure due to the non-availability of power.