Power tariff hike: Jakhar blames it on ‘low-utility’ power plants set up under SAD rule

Urged chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to order a probe for fixing accountability of all those people who were responsible for “this plunder of the state exchequer”

Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Friday that ‘low-utility’ power plants set up under the previous Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) regime were responsible for the recent power tariff hike in the state.

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“These under-utilised assets were created just to provide benefit to the private players. These are white elephants of the state,” he said while talking to the media on the sidelines of installation ceremony of newly appointed Punjab Agro Industries Corporation chairman Joginder Singh Mann.

He said the power tariff had to be increased as these ‘low-utility’ plants could cater to the power needs of the state only for two months.

Jakhar urged chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to order a probe for fixing accountability of all those people who were responsible for “this plunder of the state exchequer”.

Endorsing Amarinder’s demand to include Punjab in the ‘Atal Bhujal Yojana’ for conservation of groundwater resources, he said that it was the need of hour to save depleting groundwater level.

However, Jakhar said that owing to “anti-Punjab stance” of the BJP, the state had to be extra cautious while going in for any such agreement with the Centre.

He said the BJP government has been usurping rights of states through their policy of excessive centralisation. “We must be careful to ensure that the state waters are safeguarded.”