Sisodia accuses Centre of ‘turning blind eye’ to every problem

Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday alleged that the Centre is not ready to accept that there is a coal crisis and its policy to “turn a blind eye” to every problem could prove fatal for the country.

His remarks came after the coal ministry asserted that sufficient dry fuel is available in the country to meet the demand of electricity generating plants and dismissed as “entirely misplaced” any fear of disruption in power supply. “Union Power Minister RK Singh today (Sunday) said there isn’t any coal crisis and CM Kejriwal should not have written a letter to the prime minister on the issue. It is sad that a Union cabinet minister has adopted such an irresponsible approach,” Sisodia said at a press conference in Delhi.

Kerala will have to resort to load shedding if the coal supply situation does not improve, state electricity

minister K Krishnankutty has warned.

The coal crisis has affected the state already and there has been a shortfall in the central power supply, he said. The state gets 1,000 megawatt from the central pool.

Similarly, power supplied by other states has also come down. Supply from the Koodamkulam nuclear reactor has been reduced to one-third. Kerala currently manages the situation by

buying power from the energy

exchange.

The other day, the state electricity board had to buy power at the rate of Rs 18 per unit, and this is adding significantly to the board’s financial liabiliites.

If the situation continues, there will be no option but to declare power cuts, the minister said.

But he pointed out that this would be done in such a way that impact on the industrial activities is kept to the minimum.

Kerala faces severe power crisis: Minister K RAVEENDRAN Thiruvananthapuram