Delhi Power Minister Ashish Sood on Thursday warned of strict action against those “spreading lies” about power cuts in the city. Sood also claimed that during the over-decade-long AAP regime, there were over five-hour cuts on 31,958 occasions, averaging 14 cuts per day.
In a statement, he also shared the instances of power cuts provided by the discoms relating to power outages in the last 10 years. “According to the data, Delhi experienced 7,160 such instances in 2015, followed by 8,659 in 2016, 7,301 in 2017, 6,265 in 2018 and 5,010 in 2019. The numbers further declined to 3,807 in 2020, 3,671 in 2021, and 2,692 in 2022. However, the instances rose slightly to 3,486 in 2023 and 3,907 in 2024,” Sood said. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Atishi earlier claimed there were increased power outages ever since the BJP came to power in the city.
“How is it that in 10 years, there were no outages, but within a month of BJP rule, power cuts are back?” she wondered on Monday. “This means only one thing: the BJP doesn’t know how to run the
government.”
He emphasised that under the leadership of Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, the government is committed to making substantial reforms in the power sector. The Power Minister said globally, no power network can function without scheduled shutdowns for maintenance, and questioned as to how will AAP continue their practice of allegedly spreading lies.
He disclosed the minutes of a meeting on power issues on May 23, 2023, held under the then government were reviewed. It exposed several key facts, including power companies reporting multiple instances of extended power cuts lasting three to four hours.
According to Soods, the minutes of the meeting also reveal that during the summer preparedness review meeting, the then power minister had inquired about areas experiencing frequent three to four-hour-long power outages.
The Minister said that the former power minister had sought reports from BRPL on prolonged power outages in several localities, including Freedom Fighter Colony, Saket, Alaknanda, Aya Nagar, and Begumpur. Sood said during the Assembly debate two days ago, he had presented various facts, and had reaffirmed that no electricity network in the world can function without occasional shutdowns for maintenance.
He said, “If they (the AAP leaders) claim that there was not a single minute of power outage during their tenure, it means they neglected essential power maintenance altogether. This is nothing but political opportunism, Sood added.
Earlier, the AAP accused the BJP-led Delhi government of failing to manage the city’s power supply, alleging that residents have faced frequent and prolonged outages since the new administration took over. Addressing a press conference, AAP senior leader Jasmine Shah presented data from the Delhi State Load Dispatch Centre, claiming that the government’s assertion of “planned shutdowns” was false. “Since the BJP government took charge in February, Delhi’s power distribution system has collapsed. The people of Delhi are experiencing a crisis they haven’t seen in the last 10 years,” he said.
