Chandigarh: Police used water cannons to disperse Aam Aadmi Party workers on Saturday who were protesting against the state government's decision to cut down power distribution owing to a recent spike in the demand for electricity in Punjab. The protest was held in front of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's private residence 'Siswan Farm House'.
The Aam Admi Party (AAP) blamed both the Congress and the Akali Dal for the current power crisis in the state. Frequent power outages in the state has been affecting small and medium scale agricultural industries in the state. Raising the power crisis in Punjab, AAP chief Kejriwal had earlier hit out at Punjab Government and pointed out the rising expense of the exchequer in purchasing power for the state. Kejriwal said the rising burden on the state exchequer led to the hike in the price of electricity.
Meanwhile, A Venu Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary (Taxation) and Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, said the failure of private-run thermal plants to provide committed supply during the peak season has resulted in the power shortage situation in the state. The delayed monsoon has also caused severe power outages in the state, he told a seminar here, adding that once rainfall comes, the situation would improve. Work from home and air conditioning demand has also increased significantly in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the official said. Normally, we make arrangements up to 12,500 MW, but this year, keeping these problems in view, we made arrangements for 13,500 MW, he added.
Read: Farmers' protests continue, push Punjab towards power crisis
The opposition SAD on Friday held protests in front of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited offices across the state as it accused the Congress government of withholding eight hours of free electricity supply to farmers, imposing unscheduled power cuts in urban areas and ordering closure of industries twice a week. The party demanded an immediate financial package for paddy farmers forced to use diesel generators besides an immediate reduction in value-added tax (VAT) on diesel. If these corrective measures are not taken along with restoration of regular supply of power to farmers as well as domestic and industrial consumers, the party will gherao the chief minister and ministers in the next phase of its agitation, a party statement said.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal joined the protest at Lambi, Fazilka and Ghubaya and held Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh "solely responsible for the plight of the people". He alleged the chief minister had not conducted a single review meeting of the power utility to ensure adequate supply of power to paddy farmers. He added that this was done deliberately to keep the subsidy bill down. The Congress government does not want to provide free power to farmers and this is the reason why it is not supplying power when it is needed the most, he said. Badal further said the state government did not make any attempt to ensure timely maintenance of thermal plants which had led to the closure of Lehra Mohabbat plant as well as closure of one unit of the Talwandi Sabo plant.
Read: Punjab electricity crisis: Sidhu yet to pay electricity bill worth over Rs 8.5 lakh
