Members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) gheraoed the Energy Minister's residence here on Monday, protesting against a range of alleged mismanagement in his department. “Electricity management in the State has reached a ridiculous state in the last 15 years. People and industries alike are facing unprecedented problems of power cuts though Minister Pranab Prakash Das had committed publicly that there would be no load shedding in the State in the current summer,” said a party release.
Odisha has a current supply of only 2700 mega watt while the demand t is above 5500 mw. This demand is calculated taking into consideration the facts that Odisha’s per capita demand is 30 per cent less than the national average and around 40 lakh families are still without electricity. “In this situation, the Minister’s commitment is either an uninformed statement or a deliberate lie. We expect that the rural areas will continue to suffer from four to six hours of power cut a day and in the urban areas, the potential is for a two to four hours.
The agricultural sector is the worst sufferer as 180 of the 220 cold storages are currently not operating due to lack of power supply and 50 to 70 per cent lift irrigation points are not working. Similarly, small-scale industries are also suffering from loss of productivity due to lack of reliable power supply. This is impacting consumers as well as the economy of the State severely. The AAP demanded that the Minister publicly apologies for his misleading commitment.