Guwahati, Sept 11:Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday responded to the Opposition’s criticism on recent power load-shedding issues in the state by assured that the load-shedding issue has been addressed and that for the past couple of days there has been no load shedding in the state.
Addressing the five-day autumn session of the Assam Legislative Assembly that began on Monday, Sarma stated that the peak hour deficit in Assam was substantially lower than many states of the country in the past two years.
Citing data provided by the Central Electricity Authority, that the average peak hour power deficit in Assam during 2022-23 was only 3 megawatt (MW) as against a peak hour power deficit of 2000 MW in Maharashtra, 1220 MW in Bihar and 780 MW in Uttar Pradesh.
“Likewise in the year 2021-22, out of a peak hour demand of 2500 MW, the peak hour power deficit in Assam was only 5MW compared to states such as Bihar where the peak hour deficit was 654 MW, Andhra Pradesh where the peak hour deficit was 519MW and Jharkhand where the deficit was 276MW in that year,” the chief minister said.
“Assam is dependent on other states for its power requirements and hence there are other areas that need to be explored to arrest the issue. We will set up a semiconductor plant with an investment of Rs 40,000 crore,” he said.
Sarma also said that the power tariff in Assam compared to other states was less. “The state only generates 400 MW of power at a cost of Rs 9 and hence the tariff in the domestic category is less compared to other states,” he said.
Notably, the chief minister had met Union power minister R.K. Singh in New Delhi to inform him of the 26 per cent rise in power demand brought on by the expansion of the economy’s productive sectors.
According to Sarma, the Union Minister has promised him to provide Assam 300 MW of power to meet the current energy crisis.
On issues related to power consumption across households where smart meters have been put up, he said that the consumption has come down drastically to 60 per cent, which is very positive as people are now alert and judiciously using power,” the chief minister said.
Earlier in the day, Opposition MLA Akhil Gogoi staged a protest outside the Assembly against the state’s power crisis.