The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab on Saturday blamed the previous Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) government’s for the power crisis in the state.
Addressing a Press conference, AAP Punjab’s chief spokesperson, Malwinder Singh Kang said the traditional political parties used the power generation resources of Punjab for their selfish gains and deliberately damaged the thermal power plants.
The AAP leader said the previous Congress government cut off sources of power generation in Punjab by shutting down four thermal plants in Bathinda and two in Ropar.
“These plants used to generate 800 MW (megawatt) electricity. The people of Punjab have to bear the brunt of such adverse decisions of previous governments. He said that the Mundra thermal plant in Gujarat, which used to provide electricity to five states including Punjab, has also been closed since 2018,” he said.
“Punjab used to get 475 MW of electricity from this thermal plant. Apart from this, Akali and Congress governments have not run coal mines, allotted to Punjab in 2001 in Chhattisgarh’s Pachwara, since 2015,” Kang added.
He said this mine produces seven million metric tonnes of coal annually. “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has decided to restart the mine and it will be functioning by June end. With its own mine, Punjab will get cheaper coal and the government will save Rs 500 to 600 Crores,” Kang added.
He said the heatwave, this year, has broken all records and the highest temperature was recorded in the last 108 years. Due to which the demand for electricity has increased by 40 to 45 per cent in the months of April and May this year, which is an average of 10900 Megawatt (MW) while the average daily power consumption in these months was only 6500 MW last year.
Kang said the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and power minister Harbhajan Singh are working day and night to meet the power demand in Punjab.
He said in the coming days, there will be no shortage of electricity in Punjab. “Consumption of electricity increases every year during the season of paddy sowing, but I want to assure that the farmers will not face any electricity shortage for the paddy crop. The Chief Minister himself is keeping an eye on the whole matter,” Kang added