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| Babu caught on wrong foot | | First walkout in assembly on power crisis | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Jan 8
The Minister of State for Power Babu Singh was today caught on the wrong foot when entire opposition brought to the fore a plethora of questions on power supply and distribution.
In his typical style, the Minister of State tried his best to counter the opposition during the Question Hour but all in vain. The Industries Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora, who till recently was the Power Minister, came to the rescue of Babu Singh several times but this could not satisfy the opposition.
Babu Singh's inability to satisfy the Opposition led to the first walkout of the current session as entire opposition left the House renting slogans against the department. Earlier, the National Conference leader Abdul Rahim Rather said that the Power department had obtained a fund of Rs 800 crore from Center for maintenance but only Rs 200 crores could be spent. Panthers Party leader Harsh Dev Singh alleged that a private company has been hired for rural electrification which the not taking the local legislators into confidence and there is overlapping of the works done in most of the areas.
Replying supplementaries asked by Mr. Harshdev Singh demanding inquiry into non-coordination between private companies and Power Development Department, Mr. Babu Singh said that he would soon hold a meeting with centre-state power authorities and private companies, executing works in the state, in which Mr. Harshdev Singh would also be invited so that his questions are replied in detail.
Earlier replying to the main question during the Question Hour, the Minister of State for Power Mr. Babu Singh informed Legislative Assembly that total Hydel power Potential of the state was estimated at 20,000 MWs. "Out of which 16400 MWs have been identified on the Jhelum, Chenab, Indus and Ravi Basins. This potential of Jhelum 3560MW, Chenab 10360 MW, Indus 2060MW and Ravi 500 MW", he added. He was replying to a question by Dr. Sheikh Mustafa Kamal.
He said, "the state has so far installed capacity of 1869 MWs, out of which 309 MWs is under state sector and 1560 MWs under Central Sector. The gap between installed capacity and actual generation is mostly because of high fluctuations in the discharge of the sources".
Replying supplementry by leader of opposition Mr. A. R. Rather regarding less expenditure on centrally sponsored power schemes, the Deputy Chief Minister told the House that 98 percent plan expenditure has been registered on various schemes in the state. However, the expenditute of some power schemes has been low for local contractors being unable to undertake the work and national level companies hesitating to come to the valley", he said and added that this difficulty would be addressed. |
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