NEW DELHI: Power Minister Ashish Sood on Thursday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of misleading the public on power outages in the capital. Speaking at a press conference at the Delhi secretariat, Sood dismissed opposition claims, stating that the AAP government presided over 51,958 power cuts lasting over five hours in the last 10 years, averaging 14 long outages per day. Soood said the government is considering legal action against those spreading falsehoods and disturbing peace.
He asserted that no power grid in the world can function without scheduled shutdowns and questioned why prolonged power cuts occurred under Atishi’s tenure despite AAP’s claims of transforming the sector. Citing data from BSES and Tata Power, Sood detailed power cut incidents from 2015 to 2024, with peak outages in 2016 (8,659 instances) and the lowest in 2022 (2,692 instances).
He also dismissed Atishi’s claim that data on power cuts was available on the state load dispatch centre (SLDC) website, stating that no such figures exist in official records.
Looking ahead, Sood said the government is working on transformer upgrades, removing overhead cables, and collaborating with the Public Works Department (PED) and the Delhi Jal Board to prevent waterlogging-related outages.
With summer demand expected to rise to 9,200 MW, he assured that the government is implementing load balancing, setting up a 24-hour control center, and reviewing power purchase agreements. The AAP has repeatedly accused the BJP-led Delhi government of mismanaging the city’s power supply, citing frequent outages since it took office. AAP leader Jasmine Shah on Thursday claimed data from the Delhi State Load Dispatch Centre disproved the government’s claim of “planned shutdowns.”
He alleged that power failures, lasting 30 minutes to over three hours, have disrupted key areas like Sadar Bazar, IGI Airport, and Safdarjung Enclave. Shah dismissed Sood’s claim of only scheduled maintenance.