Blaming the Centre for the prevailing power crisis in Uttar Pradesh,Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday appealed to the state leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party to impress upon their central leaders to increase the power quota of the state.“Short supply of 1,000 megawatt electricity by the Centre and shortage of coal at the thermal power stations forcing them to generate less electricity were the main reason for the power crisis,” Yadav told reporters at a book release function organised here on Sunday.
He, however, hoped that the situation would improve within two-three days “because of the positive steps taken by the state Government”.The Chief Minister said that because of the prevailing dry weather,the demand for power had increased to 13,000 megawatts leading to the shortage of electricity and this was forcing officials to go for undeclared power cuts across the state.“We have been repeatedly demanding a hike in the Central quota of power given to the state but nothing has happened so far,” Yadav said,adding that the BJP state leaders should convey some good message from Vrindavan to impress their Central leaders.
“It was me who had met a senior BJP legislator from Varanasi sitting on fast over the power issue and had assured electricity to Varanasi.But it is unfortunate that the Centre is yet to wake up to the crisis. It is not even supplying enough electricity so that we may provide uninterrupted power to the Prime Minister’s constituency,” Yadav said. The Chief Minister reiterated that his Government was working on various development projects to provide 18-hours power to rural and 24-hour power to urban areas by 2016.
He also appreciated the power employees for working tirelessly for maintaining the supply. The power crisis in UP has become critical for the past couple of days. Against a demand of 13,000 megawatt electricity per day, the state is getting just 10,000 megawatt. The rural areas are receiving electricity for 2-3 hours per daily, while the situation is more serious in cities.