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Power supply row rocks UP council; SP stages walkout
Under Rule 105 (adjournment motion), SP members Lal Bihari Yadav, Kiran Pal Kashyap, Rajendra Chaudhary, Man Singh Yadav, Mukul Yadav, Ashutosh Sinha and Balram Yadav, among others, moved an adjournment notice over the deteriorating power supply situation in the state.
The Uttar Pradesh legislative council on Tuesday witnessed a heated exchange between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the government over the issue of power supply, prompting the opposition to stage a walkout.
Under Rule 105 (adjournment motion), SP members Lal Bihari Yadav, Kiran Pal Kashyap, Rajendra Chaudhary, Man Singh Yadav, Mukul Yadav, Ashutosh Sinha and Balram Yadav, among others, moved an adjournment notice over the deteriorating power supply situation in the state.
Kiran Pal Kashyap, Shah Alam and Ashutosh Sinha spoke on the admissibility of the notice, alleging that electricity services in the state were going from bad to worse. They also accused the power department of widespread corruption and harassment of consumers.
Shah Alam referred to a village in Azamgarh where several residents were allegedly issued bills despite having no electricity connection. Ashutosh Sinha said the groundwork for enhancing the state’s power capacity had been laid by the SP government under Akhilesh Yadav and that the BJP government, which came to power in 2017, was merely reaping the benefits.
As energy minister AK Sharma rose to respond and began refuting the charges while blaming the previous regime, SP members walked out of the House shouting anti-government slogans. The minister, however, continued his reply, recalling that in earlier years residents in parts of the state even used overhead power lines to hang clothes for drying as they were confident the wires carried no current.
He said the state’s peak power demand had now crossed 30,000 MW, nearly double that during the SP regime.
The chairman rejected the adjournment motion but asked the government to take necessary action on the issues raised. He also directed the minister to examine the complaint cited by Shah Alam regarding billing without connections.
In another notice, independent group members Raj Bahadur Singh Chandel and Akash Agrawal raised concerns over delays in reimbursement payments to unaided schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act for students aged 6-14 years. They also demanded an upward revision of payments to such schools and exemption of certain institutions from RTE provisions. After the members spoke on admissibility, basic education minister Sandeep Singh presented the government’s response. The chairman asked the minister to look into the demand for revision, noting that the payment rates had not been revised since 2011-12.
Teachers’ group member Dhruv Kumar Tripathi raised the issue of non-compliance with government orders mandating payment of all retirement dues to teachers and staff of aided secondary schools on the day of superannuation, at par with state employees. Minister of state (independent charge) Gulab Devi and the leader of the House responded on behalf of the government. The motion was rejected, with directions for necessary follow-up.
