Energy Minister Rajendra Singh has termed the ongoing agitation by various opposition parties over power crisis as politically motivated. The Minister also claimed that all the districts of the State were getting power ranging from 17 to 22 hours daily against what has been played out in public.
“Those agitating for power crisis are befooling the people and misleading them. As per June 17 load report none of the district is getting power less than 17 hours. Ranchi has received 22 hours of power supply,” said Singh on Wednesday.
“This is purely a political stunt to gain political brawny points. The BJP is the most responsible for prevailing power situation of Jharkhand and not a single megawatt has been added into State kitty during its regime,” added the Minister.
Jharkhand Energy Development Corporation limited CMD SN Verma also defended the power situation in the State and said when districts were getting more than 17 hours of power daily then there was no logic behind the agitation.
Nevertheless the Corporation is worried about rising load in summers and almost constant power supply coming to the State and hoping to improve the scenario after monsoon arrives. The official figure released for June 17 says that Jamshedpur got full load power of 145 MW with just one hour of power cut while Ranchi, Daltonganj and Khunti over 20 hours, Ramgarh and Hazaribagh over 22 hours, Chas of Bokaro nearly 18 hours and Dumka about 19 hours of power supply. However the claims of the Minister can be faulted as well.
“He has claimed Daltonganj is getting 20 hours of power supply. It is a farce. Barring some VIP area such as Bypass Road where residences of DIG and SP and Energy Department office are located no area of the town gets that much of power. Just making the bulbs glow in small pockets mean supply of power throughout the town or district,” asked Manohar Singh, a resident of Daltonganj.
Similar is the case with Hazaribagh, latehar and Chatra where large parts of sub-urban areas remain in darkness for considerable amount of time.
“The claim is not correct. Power supply has been very erratic throughout the summers. The official figures are far from the real picture and availability of power for common man,” said a Hazaribagh resident Ramesh who had sat on dharna with Sinha.
Meanwhile, the Energy Department to press its argument would release the load report on daily basis depicting the power supply situation in all the parts of the State. “This would present a correct picture before the common man and prevent the politicians to take undue political mileage over power situation,” added the Minister. He also assured for sufficient power supply to Deoghar during Shravani Mela, staring in August.