The collapse of the northern grid at 2.30 am on Monday is a wake-up alarm for the government to get working on India’s creaking infrastructure. The reasons for the collapse, said to be the worst since 2001, are being looked into by a high-powered committee of experts set up by Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, but it must be said to the credit of the Power Grid Corporation of India that it got the power completely on-stream within 12 hours against the usual one or two days.
This, of course, is little comfort to the estimated 300 million people who suffered 12 gruelling hours without power in the heat and those stuck aboard long-distance trains. Among the states affected were Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, New Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Monday morning saw trains and metro services thrown out of gear. Hospitals and essential services were badly hit though many did have back-up power since the north is used to irregular power supply and many are prepared for such an eventuality.
Power was restored partially within six to eight hours and in 12 hours life was back to normal. Modern lifestyle is heavily dependent on electricity which is also a symbol of progress.
But will the UPA-2 government take steps to get the infrastructure bottlenecks out of the gridlock? It has for over a year been unable to deal with the power situation where Coal India is buying coal at market prices and having to sell it at fixed prices. Power companies are running below capacity for lack of coal while new power projects are delayed because of coal and gas shortages. The transport system is severely hampered by bad roads, which also add to the wear and tear of tyres and trucks. The national highway roads programme is moving at a snail’s pace and this makes transport of goods exorbitant. Over 65 per cent of domestic trade moves by road, yet the government is unable to get its act together to get the road programme going. The situation is the same with the railways where there isn’t even a seriously working and concerned railway minister. The ports are jammed, so whilst container ships in Shanghai turn around in eight hours, in Mumbai it takes two to three days.
The major impediment is land acquisition as land is needed for all projects, whether for infrastructure like airports or for industries where several steel and iron ore projects are held up for want of land.
It is unfortunate that all the brave talk of a month ago by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who took over the finance portfolio after the exit of now President Pranab Mukherjee, remains just words. The policy paralysis, red tape and corruption continue.