“Punjab Power Crisis Amid Peak Paddy Season: How State Stopped Making Its Own Electricity”, Swarajya, 23 Sep 2026.
“The state that contributes nearly one-fourth of the central pool’s paddy is struggling to water its own paddy fields. Punjab is among the states worst hit by this year’s monsoon shortfall, and the power cuts that have followed are making even groundwater hard to reach.
Punjab promises its farmers eight hours of free electricity a day to run tubewells through the paddy season. Through the first fortnight of September, they were getting just two to three hours.
The first reaction of Punjab Power Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond was to put the blame on the Centre and allege that the failure to ensure coal supplies to Punjab’s power plants was leading to power cuts. He said this on 5 September, with industry across the state absorbing cuts of six to eight hours a day.
The Centre was ready with its counter the next day. The Union Ministry of Coal put out the stock position at the three thermal plants owned by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), which on 4 September held about 117 per cent of their normative coal requirement, and set it against what those plants had generated………”
Read the full article at Swarajya.
