Power Outrage: Odisha Congress to gherao GRIDCO on June 19; demands white paper power infra fund utilisation
The Congress party accused the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of enacting drama over the burning issues of power outage in Odisha and rising cooking gas prices, respectively, on Wednesday.
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Bhubaneswar: The Congress party accused the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of enacting drama over the burning issues of power outage in Odisha and rising cooking gas prices, respectively, on Wednesday.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak claimed at a press conference in Bhubaneswar that both the BJP and the BJP are misleading people and playing with their emotions.
Noting that the BJP, which is responsible for the state's soaring cooking gas prices, held a dharna over power outages, he said the ruling BJD staged a similar dharna over LPG prices to protest its failure to ensure uninterrupted and cheap electricity in the state.
Coming down hard on both parties, the PCC chief claimed that the BJD regime in the state has been exploiting people through high power tariffs and frequent power outages. Similarly, the BJP-led government at the Centre has burdened the people with a sharp increase in cooking gas prices.
According to Pattanayak and senior Congress leader Panchanan Kanungo, power tariffs in Odisha have increased by around 220 percent, while cooking gas prices have increased by more than 250 percent in the last decade.
The PCC chief stated that Rs 20,000 crore was allotted for power infrastructure development in the state, of which Rs 5,000 crore was given to Tata Power when the company took over the task of power distribution.
Pattanayak claimed that there is no information about the remaining Rs 15,000 crore and demanded that the state government issue a white paper outlining the amount and how the money was spent.
In a scathing attack on the Naveen Patnaik government for frequent power outages across the state amid scorching heat, he said the Congress party will protest at the Gherao GRIDCO office on June 19 to demand concrete steps to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
