It’s ironic that while the prestigious biodiversity conference COP-11 to be held in the city next month is to showcase the city as an ideal investment destination, there are daily three hours of scheduled power cuts in the city and several unscheduled ones.
Even places of tourist interest, such as the famous Salar Jung Museum and the night bazaar at Shilparamam suffer from power cuts for hours together. Central discom officials have assured that there will be uninterrupted power for the mega event at the venue, the Hyderabad International Convention Centre. “We will try to give 100 per cent of the supply required for the COP-11 event. To be able to do so, the department is providing extra cable to the venue. However, we cannot say the same for all destinations within the 15-20-kilometre radius,” said a senior official. Most of the delegates will be put up in hotels within that area.
The Ganesh festival which precedes the convention is another power guzzler. The official said the best they can do is provide 100 per cent power supply on the main festival day. Hyderabad is not equipped to handle the extra energy requirement of the mega events. This does not bother the government or power officials since they will simply restrict power even further to other areas and consumers, so that the showpiece convention and the populist Ganesh festival don’t feel the pinch.