Worsening darkness in Kerala; 'Power trap' claims life of Palakkad native, protest intensifies

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The power outage introduced in Kerala is tormenting the lives of the general public. The death of a bedridden patient after the oxygen concentrator stopped during loadshedding left the whole state in shock.

The victim was M. Krishnan (71) of the ‘Kaliyankandam house’ in Kenath Paramba near Palakkad Civil Station. Krishnan was in the hospital due to respiratory ailments and was shifted to his home last week with the help of an oxygen concentrator. The power outage occurred around 12 midnight on Thursday.

Since the oxygen concentrator runs on electricity, it does not need to be refilled like an oxygen cylinder. For this reason, it is widely used among respiratory patients.

KSEB sources say that the only way out is to impose load shedding in the context of a shortage of up to 1000 MW at night. The government is now in a tough spot as the opposition boasted about their last ten years of rule in Kerala sans load shedding. In the past, power outages were fixed at specific times.

Due to the reduced rainfall due to the El Niño phenomenon, there is a 22 per cent reduction in hydroelectric power generation across the country. It is not possible to buy additional electricity from other states.

The opposition disagreed with the proposal of Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph to set up a nuclear power plant in Cheemeni. Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan responded that it will not be easy and there will be opposition from society.