Fact Check: Will the 9 PM event on April 5 lead to an electricity grid failure?

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has requested the citizens of India to switch off the lights of their homes on April 5 at 9 pm for 9 minutes and stand on their balconies and windows with a candle, diya, or the phone's flashlight in order to show togetherness against coronavirus. This has resulted in concerns on the resultant load that the electricity board might witness after a huge chunk of the population turn on their lights. Many took to Twitter and Facebook to raise these concerns and it slowly became a fiery rumour that spread.

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Claim:

As soon as the announcement of the event on April 5 was done by PM Narendra Modi, concerns were put forward by many individuals about the possibility of an electricity grid failure. These claims seem to be based on a letter that has been taking rounds written by the Uttar Pradesh State Load Despatch Centre. The letter states an estimation that the state might face a 3000 MW sharp load reduction in a short duration of time. They have also suggested some actions related to this and thus asked the Power Gird must be in service during the time. Here is the letter:

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Source: Biswajit Mohanty Twitter

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Rating: Fake

The image of the letter by the Uttar Pradesh State Load Despatch Centre is fake. The first indication of this is that the letter is scanned with the help of a mobile app named Cam Scanner. Another important indicator is that no such letter can be found on the official website of the Uttar Pradesh State Load Despatch Centre.

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There will be no problem with the grid and electricity, claims the Ministry of Power

Origin:

The Minister of Railways, Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, has posted a clarification regarding the arrangements and protocols during the April 5 event. This Press Release by the Ministry of Power states talks about the apprehensions regarding the instability in the grid and possible power failure and claims them to be misplaced. The release then goes on to talk about how the lights of residences in the country are to be put off and it does not include hospitals and other essential services, including street lights. Another important thing pointed out in the release is that since there is no call to switch off any appliances and just the lights, there is no danger of power failure. The Ministry of Power's Official Twitter account also posted the same press release with a series of tweets. 

Source: Ministry of Power Twitter

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