Akali Dal's Sukhbir Badal slams Congress, calls 'Punjab power crisis man-made'

As the power supply situation continues to remain grim in Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday slammed the Congress-led state government over the current power situation, alleging that the crisis was entirely 'man-made' and a direct consequence of the ruling dispensation’s neglect and absence of advanced planning and preparedness.

He tweeted:

"This is a crisis that was waiting to happen and it has nothing to do with the much-touted shortage of coal elsewhere. The ministry of coal has clarified that there is no shortage of coal supplies in the country. That clearly shows that the Punjab government is the real villain as it was not keeping the required reserves of coal to meet such situations," he added in a statement.

Comparing the situation with the scene during their tenure, Badal further said,

"When we assumed office in 2007, the state was used to daily power cuts lasting 14 to 16 hours. We promised to turn Punjab into a power surplus state and we made the people forget power cuts even during the peak summer months, while the Congress rulers are unable to manage the situation even when there is no pressure of extra load."

Power cuts in Punjab until October 13

This comes after state-owned utility PSPCL announcing on Sunday that a daily three-hour power cut will remain in the state until October 13. Severe coal shortage has forced the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited to cut down power generation and impose load shedding to deal with the issue.

The coal-fired power plants are operating at less than 50% of their generation capacity because of depleted coal stock, said the officials. While the private power thermal plants have coal stock of up to one-and-a-half days, the state-owned units have coal for up to four days, said the officials on Sunday.

PSPCL Chairman and Managing Director A Venuprasad said that all the coal-based plants across the state were facing an acute coal shortage. A similar situation is prevailing in the neighbouring states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and in other parts of India, Venuprasad further said.

(With PTI Inputs)