By IANS
New Delhi : Responding to Uttar Chief Minister Mayawati’s remarks holding the central government responsible for the state’s power woes, Union Power Ministe r Sushilkumar Shinde Wednesday said the main responsibility lies with the state itself.
In a statement, Shinde said electricity is in the constitution’s concurrent list of subjects, adding that it is, in fact, the main responsibility of the state government to distribute and generate electricity.
“And the central government’s role is supplementary in nature,” he maintained.
“I think the chief minister needs to appreciate this constitutional provision,” Shinde opined.
The chief minister’s comment of earlier this month was apparently provoked by a statement from Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi at a function in Amethi on Dec 2, blaming her government for power troubles in the state.
“In the last two Five-Year Plans, Uttar Pradesh has added only 536 MW of new capacity, whereas they should have added more than 3,000 MW keeping in view their requirement,” the union minister pointed out.
The state has the peak shortage of about 23 percent, which is 2,500 MW. The efficiency of the state’s thermal power plants has declined to 56 percent against the national average of 77 percent. The state distribution network has very high aggregate technical and commercial losses averaging 45 percent, Shinde said.
“If Uttar Pradesh were to run its power plants as per the national average of PLF (plant load factor), it could have generated additional power of 1,000 MW cutting its present shortage by 40 percent,” the statement added.
Not stopping at that, the power minister said Uttar Pradesh is the most indisciplined state with regard to grid discipline, regularly overdrawing power and putting the entire national grid at risk.
Mayawati had accused the central government of discriminating against the state in allocation of power from various upcoming ultra mega power projects and central generating stations.