BJP, Congress stage walkout in UP Assembly

The BJP and the Congress on Wednesday staged a walkout from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly to protest against the lack of seriousness on the part of the Akhilesh government over the prevailing power crisis.

Replying to a question put up by Congress’ Nadeem Javed and BJP’s Satish Mahana, UP minister Shailendra Yadav Lalai admitted that only 20 power units were functioning and six had been shut down. He said the power production per day was around 3556 MW.

Mr Javed said the power demand in the state was around 13,000 to 14,000 MW per day and the state faced a shortage of about 7000 MW on an average.

BJP’s Suresh Rana said no efforts were being made by the state government to bridge the growing gap between demand and supply.

BJP’s Dr Radha Mohan Das Agarwal “congratulated” the state government for its “development”.

“In 2012, the power production was 4209 MW and today, it is 3556 MW. This is a remarkable development for the government that pats its back on development”, he said.

The minister claimed that despite the shortage, the Bundelkhand region was getting 24 hour power supply while urban centres were getting g a 20 hour supply and the rural areas were being given 16 hours of power supply every day.

This led to uproarious scenes in the state Assembly after which parliamentary affairs minister Mohd Azam Khan said before he became Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised 24-hour power supply to the nation and Uttar Pradesh was still waiting for him to fulfil his promise.

Claiming that the state government was not serious over the issue of power crisis, the BJP and the Congress staged a walkout from the state Assembly.