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'Blackout might happen in Delhi': Satyendar Jain points fingers at Centre
Delhi power minister Satyendar Jain said on Tuesday that NTPC has capped production capacity of all its plants to half due to which there is a shortage of coal for thermal power plants.
Delhi power minister Satyendar Jain said on Tuesday that the national capital may plunge into darkness if proper supply of coal is not restored to thermal power plants. The Delhi government has been raising concerns about shortage of coal at power plants, claiming that only a few days of supply has been left.
Today, Jain pointed fingers at the Centre.
"There is no coal power plant in Delhi. We buy electricity from coal plants situated in other states. NTPC has capped production capacity of all its plants to half. There can be two reasons, first coal shortage or secondly Centre has told them to do it," said Jain.
"Blackout depends on them. Right now they are giving only half supply, if they stopped giving it then blackout might happen," the Delhi power minister added.
Kejriwal had said on Monday that all efforts are being made to address the power crisis and his government does not want any "emergency situation".
"The situation is very critical in the entire country. Several chief ministers have written to the Centre about it. All are trying together to improve the situation," Kejriwal said at a press conference.
The chief ministers of Punjab and Chhnattisgarh have also flagged the power crisis that might arise in their respective states due to coal shortage in power generation plants.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was another chief minister who raised concern about power crisis.
On Tuesday, the Centre directed the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and DVC to supply as much power as available to Delhi's power distribution companies (discoms) keeping in view their declared capacity.
"This will ensure that distribution companies of Delhi will get as much power as requisitioned by them as per their demand," a press release by the central government said.
This comes a day after Union home minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting with coal minister Pralhad Joshi and power minister RK Singh and asked them to maintain proper supply of coal.
