Only lights to go off, not all other appliances: Power Ministry on PM’s 9-minutes call

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the residents to switch off lights for nine minutes on April 5 while essential services like public utilities, municipal services, offices, police stations, manufacturing facilities will remain on causing no instability in the grid, the power ministry said on Saturday.

“Prime Minister has appealed to the people to voluntarily switch off their lights between 9 pm to 9:09 pm on the April 5. Some apprehensions have been expressed that this may cause instability in the grid and fluctuation in voltage which may harm the electrical appliances. These apprehensions are misplaced,” an official statement said.

The Indian electricity grid is robust and stable and adequate arrangements and protocols are in place to handle the variation in demand, it said.