Sweat Capital

Goyal, however, assured that Bawana Power Plant would get additional gas supplies from NTPC to increase power generation and help meet demand in the national capital. Addressing a press conference after holding an emergency meeting with Jung and other top officials to discuss the ongoing power crisis, Goyal said that an additional 400 Megawatts of power will start generating in the national capital by Tuesday evening.

The minister also claimed that Bawana-Rohini power transmission line, which was damaged by the storm in the capital and adjoining states on 30 May, would become functional from Tuesday night. The minister, however, said it would take another 15 days to repair all other transmission lines damaged in the squall on 30 May.

Facing protests across the city, Goyal blamed the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party for politicising the issue. He said the Congress government which ruled the city for past the 15 years was insensitive to the growing demand for power of the people of Delhi. In an indirect attack on former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, Goyal said, ‘The problem persisted even as the mother of the MP of the area, which is facing the worst power crisis, was in charge.’ His statement was immediately contested by Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely, who asked how they be blamed when no such crisis happened during their regime and they increased generation and transmission capacity manifold.

The power outages have triggered protests by various political parties. The Congress, as well as Aam Aadmi Party, has been targeting the BJP for the power cuts, saying that the central government can not escape responsibility. More than 20 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs on Tuesday staged a protest outside union minister Harsh Vardhan’s house in East Delhi demanding urgent steps by the Centre to improve electricity supply in the city.

Delhi has been reeling under long power cuts ranging from one to six hours for over a week after a devastating storm severely damaged major power transmission lines across the city. Goyal said it was unfortunate that some parties were politicising the Delhi power crisis issue.  ‘The strong storm few days back also contributed to the power crisis in Delhi,’ he maintained. Goyal assured the Centre will monitor and assist the Delhi government to take decisions.