RAIPUR: On a day when the opposition BJP in Chhattisgarh planned a statewide mega protest against the reported frequent (unscheduled) power breakdown and load shedding, the Bhupesh Baghel government takes out a front-page advertisement in the local dailies to obliquely blunt the opposition attacks and portray "better" existing power scenario in the state.
The issue of "repeated power cut complaints" had triggered political slugfest in Chhattisgarh. The BJP is holding its first major demonstration against the Congress government over the issue in all 27 districts of the state on Saturday.
Earlier to counter the opposition claims, the state government had quietly gathered the data of the corresponding five months (January — May) of the previous year on the power outages recorded during the Raman Singh’s regime. The information collected by the power distribution company of Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB) from across the state shows there was relatively less power shutdown this year compared to corresponding months of 2018.
Based on the comparison of power tripping from 33 KV line and 11 KV line during Jan-May 20018 and 2019, the duration on power shutdown was 120268 hours last year while this year it was 98588 hours, the CSEB inputs, acquired by the TNIE, revealed.
The Congress government in the issued Ads display had eulogised its achievements citing that in as many as 116 places the power infrastructure have been renovated and strengthened in the last six months along with the additional installation of transformers.
“We don’t claim but the union power ministry has (recently) released data citing the Chhattisgarh supplies 21.98 hours of power daily and we are among the top five states in the country on the power scenario. The power shortage which was 2.3 per cent in January 2019 has been brought down to zero in April 2019”, said the advertisement issued in the regional dailies on Saturday.
“Such releasing of the advertisement in all local dailies ahead of the BJP’s maha-dharna (demonstration) explicitly suggests how frightened is the ruling Congress. It's an attempt to conceal its own incapability to handle the crisis emerging on power failures from various parts of the state”, said the state BJP media-in-charge Naleenesh Thokne.