Chhattisgarh Congress and BJP on Saturday traded charge over frequent power failures in the state.
On Friday, parts of states, including capital city Raipur, faced long hours of power outage. The power was restored later.
Leader of the Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik alleged that energy department has “gone out of control” due to which the entire state is facing power outage.
Residents are also agitating over the issues in various parts of the state. The power cut is adding to woe of the citizens who are reeling under extreme heat wave.
A complete blackout-like situation has been created due to lack of power in several districts such as Raipur, Durg, Baloda, Bemetara, Kawardha and Bastar division, the senior BJP leader said.
He further alleged that nobody is even attending phone calls of residents at distribution and maintenance office, compelling the frustrated people to hold demonstration. Only after people started agitating hectic efforts were made to restore the power, the BJP leader said.
Kaushik demanded that the power problem should be resolved otherwise the BJP will go for a massive statewide agitation.
Refuting the charges, PCC chief spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla said there is no power cut in the state when there is power surplus.
He alleged that for the last 15 years, the BJP government in the state did not even change transformers that were installed in 1965. Due to technical reasons, the power supply was disrupted, which was restored within hours. The pre-monsoon maintenance is done annually but due to model code of conduct, it began after April 24. Announcement is made prior to shut down for maintenance.
During the rule of erstwhile BJP government Bastar went without power for 15 days due to technical reason, the Congress leader recalled.