Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Congress, Rashtriya Lok Dal and other opposition parties targeted the government over frequent power failures across the state and that too when the people are facing scorching heat resulting in at least 100 deaths allegedly due to heatstroke.
The opposition parties claim that the people are dying while the Bharatiya Janata Party government is celebrating nine years of Narendra Modi rule.
Targeting the government over poor power supply, BSP chief Mayawati on Monday appealed to the Uttar Pradesh government to immediately improve the power supply and not cut electricity supply in hospitals.
“The acute shortage of electricity in the entire state, including state capital Lucknow, has increased the difficulties of the people. The news of death from Ballia and other districts is very sad. The government should improve the power system immediately and not cut power in hospitals etc,” Mayawati said in a tweet on Monday.
SP national president Akhilesh Yadav, while targeting BJP, said, “There is electricity failure in the electricity department of Uttar Pradesh. Elderly, sick people, children, students and women are all troubled due to the stoppage of drinking water supply. The consolidation and growth in power generation, transmission and distribution that was done during the previous SP government was not carried forward by the BJP government. Rather, the BJP could not even maintain the electricity infrastructure developed by the previous government.”
SP national general secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi, “This electricity will teach a lesson to the people’s representatives of the ruling party in times to come. People will not tolerate any exploitation and harassment in the form of ‘expensive electricity’ and ‘disruptive power supply’.”
Congress veteran leader and party member in Rajya Sabha, Pramod Tiwari, targeted the government over the power crisis. Tiwari claimed that people in Uttar Pradesh were troubled by “unprecedented” power cuts. He said instead of making concerted efforts to tackle the power crisis, the ruling party was busy celebrating nine years of the BJP government in power. He took a dig at the BJP-led Central government for the power crisis in Uttar Pradesh and “rising” inflation and unemployment in the country.
Further criticising the BJP, Tiwari said the tall promises and good speeches may get votes, but they cannot generate electricity. “Will the BJP government in UP clarify how many thermal power plants were set up in the state in the recent past?” he asked.
He also advised the state government to buy electricity from states that had surplus power.
Tiwari said the public would give a befitting reply to the BJP in the coming elections as the party had failed to fulfill its promises.
RLD also targeted the government on power supply. RLD national spokesperson Anil Dubey said, “Ever since this government assumed power, the power supply has been playing hide and seek with the people. There is hardly any power supply in villages, while urban areas suffer frequent power cuts due to faults or undeclared power cuts. The power supply was much better in the previous government. This government has ruined everything.”
It may be mentioned that in Ballia district, 57 people have died in the last few days amidst the havoc of the scorching heat and heatwave. It may be noted that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had expressed his displeasure by summoning Energy Minister AK Sharma and Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited Chairman M Devraj late on Friday evening regarding the power system in the state.
Expressing displeasure over the undeclared power cuts, the chief minister issued an order to improve the power system in the state immediately.
According to a statement released recently, the chief minister said that the policy announced by the government regarding the power system should be implemented promptly. According to the power policy, there is a provision of 24 hours’ power supply to district headquarters, 22 hours’ to tehsil headquarters and 18 hours’ to rural areas.