NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha today witnessed noisy scenes during the Question Hour as the opposition sought data on the ruling NDA’s performance in last two-and-half years and the government hitting back with the “list” of Congress’ “failure” in the past.
The vociferous scenes arose on the issue of power generation in the country when Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge asked Power Minister Piyush Goyal to inform the House the power projects initiated by the Modi government ever since it assumed office in May 2014 and how much power they were generating now.
Goyal said when he took charge of the Power Ministry two-and-half years ago, the power situation in the country was dismal, there were many incomplete projects and no electricity connection to seven crore households.
The reply was received with vociferous protests by the Congress members led by Kharge, as they sought statistics about the NDA government’s performance and claiming that the Minister was avoiding a reply.
Amid heated exchanges, the Congress members also alleged that the government was trying to take credit for the power projects initiated by the previous governments and there was nothing to show about the Modi government’s performance.
BJP MPs said they had prepared a “list” of the Congress’ “failure” in the past.
Goyal forcefully contended that several stalled projects, including the 1200 MW Teesta hydro-electric project in Sikkim, Subansiri hydro-electric project in the Northeast, were started by the present government.
While the land acquisition process for new projects has been streamlined, electricity connection has been given to seven crore households in the country, he claimed.
Replying to a supplementary, the Minister said in 2014, the total power generated from solar energy was 2631 MW which has now increased to 10,000 MW and the price of solar power has declined now to Rs 2.97 per unit.–PTI
