Bhubaneswar, March 9 (IANS) Faced with acute shortage of power, the Orissa government Tuesday began its 'power holiday' scheme with industries being asked not to use electricity for one day in a week.

An official said the notices were issued to the industries last week.

The Central Electricity Supply Utility of Orissa (CESU) has given its timetable for the 'power holiday' to industries in Angul, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Puri, Khurdha, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack and Jajpur districts.

The newspaper industry has been exempted.

The state, which required about 2,900-3,000 MW of power during peak hours, was facing a shortage of about 400 MW to 500 MW of power every day due to low electricity generation in its six hydel projects.

To overcome the problem, the government asked industries to have an extra holiday each week, the official said. This, he added, would save about 200 MW of power every day.

There has been a sharp drop in power production due to dip in water level in hydropower units (reservoirs) following erratic rainfall last year.

Though the state is trying to compensate by sourcing power from captive power plants of private companies, technical snags have acted as deterrents.