Mumbai, Oct 11 (IANS): The electricity authority in Maharashtra will implement 16 hours of power cuts for industries from Wednesday, two days after imposing loadshedding in urban and rural areas, an official said here.

The loadshedding for industries will be imposed once a week - on different days in different areas - coinciding with days when plants observe their weekly off, an official from the Maharashtra State Electricity Board said Tuesday.

The latest power-saving measure has been taken in view of an estimated shortage of around 3,500-4,000 MW power in the past three weeks.

Power generation in the state has been hit badly on account of severe disruptions in coal supply due to the Telangana agitation in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and floods in Orissa.

This has resulted in Maharashtra power stations getting only around 12 rakes (trainloads) of coal against the daily requirements of 24 rakes.

The present demand is around 16,500 MW but the power generation is around 11,000 MW, necessitating loadshedding of three to seven hours in urban areas and 11-13 hours in rural areas, hitting domestic, commercial and agriculture sectors.

This is the first time this year that 'planned loadshedding' has been imposed in the state which has been showing an improvement in its power supply position in the past couple of years, mainly owing to a good monsoon.

The power cuts have angered people, with protests in at least two areas of Thane in the past two days and in Yavatmal Wednesday.

The coal supply has hit the MAHAGENCO thermal power generation plants in Parli (Beed), Chandrapur, Koradi, Khaparkheda, Paras - all in eastern Maharashtra, Nashik and Bhusawal in the northern parts of the state and Uran in Thane, besides smaller ones across the state.