Hold officers accountable for power crisis, says Punjab Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa

Rajmeet Singh

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 8

Even as Punjab Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa questioned the role of the bureaucracy in “perpetuating” the power crisis in the state, Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari, CM Amarinder Singh’s confidant, today took on former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu over his barbs against his own government.

Randhawa, in a letter to the CM, said the officers must be held accountable for failure to anticipate the impending crisis. He said power consumption had risen from 10,155 MW in 2014-15 to 13,148 MW in 2021-22. But the PSPCL had made no arrangements to fill the demand and supply gap.

He pointed out that the 440 MW Bathinda and Ropar thermal plants were shut despite stiff opposition by engineers. “The Lehragaga thermal plant was closed on June 23 while one unit of the Talwandi Sabo plant was shut on March 8,” he wrote, urging the CM to renegotiate or cancel the power purchase agreements with these plants.

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Taking a dig at Sidhu, Tewari said: “If someone has an agenda and wants to run it through Twitter or another medium, then the high command should take it seriously.” The CM returned from Delhi on Wednesday after meeting party chief Sonia Gandhi.