Can't provide 24-hour power supply: Haryana CM

Gurgaon, Jan 6 (IANS) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Tuesday said his government cannot ensure 24-hour electricity supply in the state in the present situation, going back on a poll promise.

"We will not be in a position to provide 24-hour power supply in at least our current tenure, but we may do it in our second tenure and will surely review the present situation," Khattar told IANS.

The comments came as the state government decided to increase the electricity supply to the industrial sector by cutting the supply to the rural and urban areas by a couple of hours.

"The government has decided to supply more power to the industrial sector. So a couple of hours of the power share of the rural and suburban areas has been shifted to factories," a senior official of the Haryana power utilities department, who did not wish to be named, told IANS.

According to the schedule announced Dec 10, 2014, 14 hours of electricity was to be supplied to rural domestic consumers - from 2.00 p.m. to 4 p.m., 6.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. and from 11.00 p.m. to 8.00 a.m.

But, as per a new schedule implemented Jan 2, 2015, villages would get only 11 hours of power supply from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. (midnight) and from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. But these 11 hours of power supply too have now been reduced by a couple of hours.

The move has irked the people as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders had assured them 24-hour power supply in their election rallies prior to the Lok Sabha and assembly polls last year.

The BJP has a clear majority in the 90-member Haryana assembly.

"We feel cheated. On an average, we are getting eight to 10 hours of power supply, much less than under the previous government," a resident said.

Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Yogendra Yadav told IANS: "It's a fraud on the people of the state. The government which promised to give 24 hours electricity supply is actually reducing it after coming to power."