Nagpur: In a major embarrassment for the state government, the state assembly and legislative council had to be adjourned for the day when power supply of Vidhan Bhavan had to be switched off. Following heavy rains in the city on Friday morning, water entered the distribution point (DP) room of the building, forcing public works department (PWD) staffers to turn off supply.
Power officials blamed PWD for the internal breakdown as it had constructed the DP room at a lower height. “Water from the higher area is bound to collect in front of the room. Monsoon session of state legislature is being held in the city for the first time after 1971. PWD officials should have anticipated this contingency and shifted the DP to a room which is situated on a higher side,” said a MSEDCL official.
The official also said that PWD had not bothered to clean the drain opposite the DP room as a result of which water could not flow into it and entered the room.
Congress alleged that beer bottles and plastic carry bags were found in the drainage inside the Vidhan Bhavan premises. “Beer and liquor bottles in the sewage line show how the government works,” said Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh.
Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik slammed the government over the issue and demanded inquiry in to the issue.
When asked about it, senior minister Chandrakant Patil said the government will order an inquiry. He also claimed that power was turned off to avoid untoward incident and not because of power failure.
Leader of opposition in the assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil slammed the government for lack of a disaster management plan. “It is completely government’s fault. There was no management of the disaster,” he told TOI. Several other opposition leaders too blamed the government.
Energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule pointed out that his department was not at fault. “There was no disruption in power supply from our side. PWD had to switch off supply due to waterlogging. The drain opposite the DP room has been cleaned and there will not be any repeat of the incident in future,” he told TOI.
SNDL business head Sonal Khurana also said that his company was not at fault. “There was no breakdown from our side. It was PWD’s decision to switch off supply,” he said.
JH Bhanuse, PWD executive engineer in charge of Vidhan Bhavan, denied that the drain had not been cleaned. “It had rained very heavily and water from roads outside Vidhan Bhavan had flowed into it. This was the reason for water-logging,” he said.
