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UP minister lashes out at electricity officials; Akhilesh Yadav mocks BJP over outages
Sharma slammed power officials on X for ignoring distress calls and using helpline 1912 as a crutch, despite being told it's no substitute for direct contact.
Uttar Pradesh energy minister AK Sharma issued a stern warning to electricity department officials after receiving public complaints about power outages, accusing them of ignoring orders and lying when questioned.
Highlighting negligence and indiscipline, Sharma said officials were failing to act responsibly. The Samajwadi Party, meanwhile, remarked that the “connection between the minister and officials has snapped.”
Opposition leader Akhilesh Yadav also took to X to criticise the state government's handling of the electricity issues, suggesting that power outages would persist as long as the BJP remained in office, and that relief would come only once the party was voted out.
Here's what Minister AK Sharma said about the grievances
Sharma took to X to call out electricity officials for ignoring public distress calls and relying solely on the toll-free helpline, 1912, despite repeated instructions not to treat it as a substitute for direct communication. He alleged that officials were refusing to answer calls on their personal numbers and were instead directing people to the helpline.
He shared a citizen's complaint on X which said, “Honorable Minister, there has been no electricity in a large neighborhood of Basti city since 10 AM. Until 8 PM, the responsible officials of the electricity department did not answer their phones. When the Superintending Engineer of Basti was called, the way he spoke will make you realise how insensitive they are towards public grievances, and their attitude clearly shows that they are deliberately trying to tarnish the image of the government. The recording of the conversation is as follows.”
Responding to this, Sharma wrote, "I had told them that people are facing problems. Officials have stopped receiving calls. And this is happening despite multiple instructions," and noted that officials had lied to him in a recent meeting about their responsiveness. He warned that failure to take public service seriously could result in "dangerous" consequences.
The minister also released an audio clip reportedly sent to him by a senior political figure. In the clip, a senior electricity department official is heard repeatedly instructing a caller to use the 1912 helpline to report the outage, while claiming connections to various political figures. He says he is related to Samajwadi Party leader Ramji Lal Suman, actor and Congress leader Raj Babbar, BJP minister Baby Rani Maurya (whom he calls his sister-in-law), and Union Minister SP Singh Baghel. The official insists the issue will be resolved only through the helpline, and when the citizen pushes back, he responds dismissively, saying the caller is “talking like a fool.”
Sharma alleged in his post that the official’s apparent affiliations with Opposition leaders suggested a deliberate attempt to damage the government’s reputation.
In a separate post, Sharma announced disciplinary action: “Consumer is God: Due to an incident of insensitivity and inappropriate behaviour towards a consumer's complaint regarding electricity, SE Shri Prashant Singh of Basti has been suspended with immediate effect. All other electricity officials and staff have been re-directed to effectively and promptly resolve consumer issues. Everyone should remain dedicated to public service.”
Akhilesh Yadav's swipe at UP govt
Samajwadi Party chief and Kannauj MP Akhilesh Yadav slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over its failure to manage the state's power crisis and ensure accountability among officials.
Taking a dig at the ruling BJP, Yadav said, “In UP, the electricity department's transformer has blown up, the wires between the minister and officials have snapped, and the pillars of trust in the government among the distressed public have been uprooted, with the meter of public outrage ticking up rapidly. The wheel of production is jammed, communication is disrupted, and in the name of distribution, the distribution of earnings from corruption is in full swing.”
He further slammed the government over rising electricity costs and poor services, stating, “In UP, there’s no electricity, only electricity bills arriving, and these exorbitant bills are eating away at people’s pockets.”
Yadav added, “If BJP goes, light will come. The people of UP say today, we don’t want BJP!”
