People in Telangana light diyas on PM's call

As a mark of solidarity in the fight against coronavirus, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday night led the people of the state by switching off lights at their residences in response to the call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and lit diyas and candles.

Lights were switched off at the Raj Bhavan and at the Pragathi Bhavan (Rao's official residence complex-cum-camp office) here at 9 pm for nine minutes respectively and the Governor and the Chief Minister and some of his ministerial colleagues and senior officials held candles.

"There is a result for combined prayer. Light has a power we ignited the lamps and enlightened our minds so that courageously and unitedly we have to face the challenge which we are facing--the coronavirus. Our Prime Minister has guided us very correctly. united we are fighting the virus. We lit 130 diyas at Raj Bhavan," Tamilisai Soundararajan said.

People including children wearing masks also lit 'diyas' and earthen lamps in front of their homes while many others were seen holding torches and switching-on their mobile flashlights in Hyderabad and other parts of the state during the nine-minute period. Some of them also lit crackers.

The Prime Minister, in a video message on Friday, urged people to switch off lights of their homes at 9 pm for nine minutes on April 5 and light up lamps, candles and mobile flashlights to display the nation's collective spirit to defeat coronavirus (COVID-19). Officials said there was excellent management of the grid system without any disruption.

The power utilities of Telangana had earlier said they had taken all necessary measures to address the sudden fluctuation in the demand during the nine-minute period. Telangana State Transmission Corporation Chairman and Managing Director D Prabhakar Rao had allayed fears on messages circulated in social media of a power grid collapse due to sudden switching off the lights.

Officials said they estimated that load reduction with lights being turned off could be about 600 MW which they said will not have any adverse impact on the power grid and they were prepared to manage the demand slump up to 1,100 MW during the period.

They had also appealed to consumers to continue operating their household electric appliances such as refrigerators, air-conditioners, fans, TV sets among other domestic appliances.