Kanpur celebrates Earth Hour

The industrial capital of the state, as Kanpur is called, had a date with Earth Hour Day, a day in advance: courtesy Kesco and UP Power Corporation Limited. It is observed across the world to raise for awareness about climate change as people switch off lights for an hour.

But the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, there was no power in the city for not just an hour but for over two and a half hours. The power was restored in the city at 1.15am, so the city had already contributed their bit to observing the Earth Hour Day one day in advance.

The entire city plunged into darkness and even street lights went off and visibility on the roads for vehicular movement was zero. As a matter fact, Kanpur people celebrate 'Earth Hour Day' everyday.

It is all the more common in the city during summer. For the past few days, the city has been facing prolonged power cuts with rostering during day and night hours.

The same happened on Friday night when at 10.45 pm the city went dark. AKS Chauhan, spokesperson for Kesco at the time of power cut said power would be restored at 1.15am and his words did not go wrong.

Power rostering in March and April affects board and college students the worst. Rostering at night, on the other hand, has led to steep rise in the crime rate in the city adding to the woes of sleepless citizens.

Ranvir, a local of Kidwai Nagar, remarked the city had observed more than its share of the Earth Hour Day. Similarly, Vinay Mishra of Saket Nagar mocked at the Earth Hour Day celebrations, saying "We observe it everyday."

A senior Kesco official said there was huge gap between demand and supply of power in the city. He added since the city has huge power consumption, it is easy target of the UPPCL for cuts.

"In one round of rostering, at least 550 to 600 Megawatts of power is saved. The saved power is supplied to two to three smaller districts.

All this is happening due to shortage of power and till the time, new power generation plants are not commissioned in the state, the problem will persist," the official added.

He added that line loss, power theft and non-payment of electricity bills, has further aggravated the power scenario in the city. But the official cleared that when the entire city is dark, it is the UPPCL's doing and not Kesco's.

S K Verma, general manager, Kesco urged power consumers to save power. "The use of CFLs instead of bulbs, switching off lights, fans and other electrical appliances when not in use can help save power."

'Earth Hour' is an annual international event created by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) For Nature that urges households and businesses across the globe to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for an hour at the appointed time to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.

According to the Earth Hour website, it began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for an hour. In 2008, the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights on Earth Hour Day. Hence, this was the seventh Earth Hour day this year.