Congress urges UPA gov to sanction additional quota of power

Patna, Jan 17 (UNI) Concerned over the ongoing power crisis in Bihar, the state Congress today urged the UPA government at the Centre to release the allotted quota of power to the state and sanction some additional quota.

In his letter to Union Energy Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Sadanand Singh though blamed the state government for the present power crisis, however, suggested some measures for improving the grim power scenario. He asked the Centre to sanction some additional quota to Bihar from Kahalgaon Thermal power stations and delink the Bihar quota from TALA (Bhutan) Hydro Electric Power stations.

Pinpointing towards the power crisis being faced by the people of Kahalgaon, he said it was paradoxical and distressing to note that Kahalgaon NTPC was illuminating the entire country but the people of Kahalgaon were compelled to remain in dark.

He requested the Centre to consider the allotment of at least ten MW of power from Kahalgaon NTPC to the local area.

The Congress leader said it was the decision of the then NDA government to supply power to Bihar from TALA Hydro power station of Bhutan. Because of the "irrational" tagging done by the NDA government in 2000, the state was facing the crisis, he added.

The power generation in Bihar was nil and the state government was responsible for the crisis, he aleged.

UNI RS SJC KLC1808