Haryana facing massive power, water crisis, says Hooda day after govt patted own back

A day after Haryana government claimed that it recorded the highest ever electricity load and that it successfully handled by the state power utilities without going for outages, Leader of Opposition and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda Saturday said that the state was facing a huger power and water crisis under the BJP-JJP regime.

“There is a huge outcry in Haryana due to a massive power and water crisis. Government’s promise of providing 24 hours electricity stands exposed. Today, life has been thrown out of gear not only in the villages, but also in the cities due to long power cuts. People are protesting against the government by taking to the streets demanding electricity and water. This has not only impacted people’s life has been disrupted, it has also adversely affected economic activity in the state,” he said.

On Friday, state Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala said Haryana recorded power consumption of 2,576.88 LU (lakh unit) on July 1 and registered a load of 11,732MW, which was the highest since the formation of the state (in 1966). “It is a historic day as this requirement has been met by the power utilities of the state,” Chautala had claimed adding there was no power shutdown in Haryana and power was being supplied to the people as per the stipulated time without any interruption.

He had also claimed that was no power crisis in Haryana like there was in neighbouring Punjab as “the state government has already made advanced preparation to manage such a situation.”

Hooda, however, claimed that the situation was anything but rosy. He claimed that while the previous Congress government worked to enhance power production, the two successive BJP-led governments shut down several units.

“Haryana was a power surplus state during Congress government. Electricity was the biggest issue in the state before the Congress government took office because the state had only one thermal power plant in Panipat,” he said.

He added, “During our tenure, we started four new power plants at Yamunanagar, Khedar, Jharli and Khanpur Khurd. In addition to this, a nuclear power plant was approved under the Indo-US Atomic Energy Agreement at Gorakhpur in Fatehabad. The result of this was that by 2014, electricity was not an election issue in the state. However, not a single new plant was set up during the BJP government.

Not only this, the BJP government also closed many units of power plants set up during Congress tenure. The total generation during our government was around 13,000 million units which has been brought down during the seven years of the BJP rule in the state. We now have a situation where the summer heat and cost of electricity are increasing on the one hand, while the government is cutting down production on the other. This is the reason why today people are facing shortage of electricity”.

“I had promised that farmers’ crops would not be allowed to dry up due to lack of electricity and water during his tenure. My government ensured complete and affordable power supply to the farmers. We started a historic initiative to provide electricity at the rate of 10 paise per unit, which was the cheapest and electricity was given to farmers at flat rates in many districts. Not only this, we also took the historic decision to waive the electricity bill of Rs 1600 crore but no such welfare decision was taken in the BJP government and electricity rates were increased continuously. Despite all this, the state is facing power shortage today,” Hooda added.