The Uttar Pradesh government is purchasing power worth `7 crores everyday from outside the state in order to narrow the gap between demand and supply of electricity even as the BSP staged a walkout from the UP Assembly to protest against heavy load shedding across the state.
Senior SP minister Shivpal Singh Yadav said in the state Assembly on Wednesday that the state government was trying to bridge the gap between the huge demand and the shortfall in supply by purchasing power from outside.
“This is the legacy we have received form the previous government that piled up a huge debt in the power sector. As the money comes in from the budget, we will further try to ease the situation,” the minister said.
Mr Yadav was replying to a question put up by BSP MLA Dharampal Singh about the powercuts ranging from 10-12 hours everyday in Agra. He said that the Supreme Court had clearly directed that the area around the Taj Mahal should be exempted from powercuts but the state government was not following the SC ruling.
Mr Yadav said that Agra had been exempted from load shedding and if there was any disruption in power supply, it was due to grid failure. “We have not ordered any powercuts in Agra and, if you want, we are even ready to divert power from Lucknow to Agra,” he stated.
Leader of the Opposition Swami Prasad Maurya wanted to know how many times the grid failure had been reported during the past one month. The government remained evasive on the issue after which the BSP termed the government as anti-people and staged a walkout from the house.
This, incidentally, is the fifth time that the issue of power crisis in UP has found an echo in the Assembly. Members from the Opposition have brought up the issue under different rules and also during the discussion on the budgets. Opposition members have persistently claimed that power supply in the urban, semi-urban and rural area is erratic and load shedding is done in an unscheduled manner, causing considerable trouble to the people. The load shedding is also disrupting small industries and related work in commercial establishments.