Rebutting Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s accusation that the Centre was denying power to Maharashtra from the Central grid, Union Minister for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal said on Sunday that the Centre had not refused any request for additional power from the State.
less than a week after Chavan charged that the Centre was not deliberately allotting power to Maharashtra from the national grid, Goyal denied the Chief Minister’s allegation and said that despite his repeated attempts, he had not succeeded in setting up a meeting with the Chief Minister.
Releasing a 100 day report card of his Ministry at a national teleconference organised by the PIV, Goyal advised the Maharashtra Chief Minister not to politicise the power issue, Goyal said: “As of today, there is no pending request for additional power from Maharashtra, and the issue need not be politicised”.
Apart from accusing the Centre of trying to precipitate power crisis in the State, Chavan had said on last Thursday that he had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to convene a meeting of the Chief Ministers of various States to discuss the power situation in the State. “If he does not take any steps in this regard, we will have a power crisis in Maharashtra and other parts of the country,” Chavan had said.
At the first of its kind tele-press conference held in New Delhi beamed to 10 centres across the country through the NIC link, Goyal said that the NDA Government was committed to ushering in a transformative change in the power sector and its aim was to provide electricity to the last man standing, to brighten up his life.
Goyal said that the work had already begun and comprehensive State specific action plans for 24/7 power to all homes is being prepared, in partnership with respective states. “We have had fruitful discussions with 18 State Governments and other major stake holders like railways, concerned ministries, financial institutions, T&D companies etc., to identify bottlenecks and work out solutions,” he said.