Debate on power situation: Jyotiraditya Scindia-Piyush Goyal at loggerheads in LS

Noisy scenes were witnessed in Lok Sabha on Thursday Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and Power Minister Piyush Goyal clashed over the power situation in the country. The Congress alleged that the government’s promise of connecting every home with electricity was a tall claim and Goyal hitting back saying it was UPA’s failure.

Raising the issue during Question Hour, Scindia alleged that 7 crore households did not have electricity, but the government was making “tall claims” of connecting every home with power.

Refuting Scindia’s allegation, Goyal said the Congress leader himself has exposed the “performance” of the Congress, which was in power for 50 years since country’s independence.

He said the NDA government has improved the power situation to a great extent as it was in bad shape during the previous UPA dispensation when Scindia himself was the Power Minister.

The House saw heated exchanges between Goyal and Scindia leading Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to intervene, asking both of them remain calm.

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The Minister said enough power was being generated in the country ever since the NDA came to power in 2014 and it can now fulfill demands upto 50 per cent more than the current requirement.

Goyal said all homes across the country will get power as per their requirement by 2022 and all households in Uttar Pradesh will have electricity connection by 2019.

“In Uttar Pradesh, all homes will be given electricity connection by 2019. Efforts are also on to provide 24-hour power to all households in Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

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He said all power plants in the country have at least 20 days stock of coal and were generating enough power. The states are given power as per their requirement.

Goyal said the Power Finance Corporation Ltd has sanctioned an amount of Rs 1,61,250 crore as financial assistance to state power utilities for strengthening of infrastructure during the last three years and the current year.