Centre-state divide, now on power; Union power minister RK Singh blames states as electricity crisis worsens

Union power minister RK Singh on Thursday came down heavily on some state governments who he felt were not taking adequate steps to address a worsening electricity crisis in the country. Several states, he said, were not lifting domestic coal on a war footing, stepping up fuel imports and allowing pass-through of high fuel costs.

Attributing the acute power shortage in the country to a big jump in consumption, the minister said: “There will be some shortages because there are states which have not made the payments to gencos. In other places, they could not lift coal (even the fuel was made available). Part of the crisis is because of their (states’) wrong planning.”