Powerless Delhi: BJP, AAP start blame game as massive outages paralyse city
Power minister Piyush Goyal calls for an emergency meet to discuss the crisis
New Delhi: With the city reeling under long spells of power outages and blistering heat, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday held an emergency meeting with Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and other top officials to discuss the power crisis. "We are suffering because of the inaction of the previous government," Goyal told reporters before the meeting with Jung in the Power Ministry.
Delhi on Monday sizzled at 45.5 degree Celsius, six notches above normal and hottest temperature for the month of June in last ten years in the city.
The power outages have triggered protests by various political parties. More than 20 AAP 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.
On Monday, Congress MLAs and leaders locked Delhi Chief Secretary SK Srivastava in his room for over one-and-a-half hours, demanding immediate improvement in the supply of power and water in the national capital.
The Lieutenant Governor had on Sunday issued few directives to control the current power problem which included snapping power supply to malls after 10 pm.
Jung had also ordered that high mast halogen lamps in the streets, which consume more power, should be switched off during night peak hours to conserve energy.
Government establishments, including Delhi Secretariat and other government offices, universities, colleges have been advised to switch off air conditioning between 3.30 and 4.30 pm to conserve power during day peak hours.
Large parts of Delhi continued to face long outages as the power transmission network damaged by a devastating storm on May 30 is yet to be restored fully.
Separately, the ministry officials said NTPC, the country's largest power producer, is ready to surrender 3 million standard cubic metres a day of its requirement of gas for the Delhi government's Bawana plant, if the need arises.
The national capital sizzled at 45.5 degrees Celsius, six notches above normal and the highest in the month of June in the past 10 years.
As per the Met Office, no respite is expected from the intense heat wave in the city and the maximum temperature is expected to be about 46 degrees Celsius in the next few days.
Watch: Delhi residents facing the brunt of frequent power cuts