The Rajasthan Assembly witnessed a tumultuous session as Opposition Congress MLAs voiced their concerns over power cuts and the fuel surcharge levied on electricity bills. During both the Question Hour and Zero Hour, Congress MLAs Indra Meena, Manish Yadav, and Amit Chachan raised these issues, leading to significant disruption.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the minister's response during the Question Hour, Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully accused the minister of attempting to mislead the House. "The minister claims power plants are running at higher capacities, so why is there no electricity?" Jully questioned, prompting Congress MLAs to start raising slogans.

During Zero Hour, Amit Chachan highlighted the issue of the fuel surcharge on electricity bills and the on-going power cuts. Congress MLAs demanded the withdrawal of the fuel surcharge, with Jully requesting Speaker Vasudev Devnani to direct the government to take action.

Manish Yadav, another Congress MLA, also brought up the issue of undeclared power cuts. In response, Minister of State for Power (Independent Charge) Heeralal Nagar blamed the previous Congress government for the current power issues, citing mismanagement as the cause. He emphasized that the state government is making continuous efforts to ensure an uninterrupted power supply, including increasing production and implementing other measures.

Nagar explained that the unexpected increase of 25 to 28% in electricity demand due to extreme heat and heat waves has exacerbated the situation. Despite efforts like ensuring coal availability for thermal power plants, raising the plant load factor to 74%, purchasing electricity from the Energy Exchange, and allocating 150 MW from central power plants, the state has had to resort to 2 to 3 hours of load shedding at night to meet the increased demand.

The minister tabled details of the steps being taken to resolve the power crisis, asserting that the government is actively working to address the issue.

(Source:ET)