& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Minister powerless to overcome power crisis

He says in face of JS body criticism

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Faced with severe criticism by the ruling BNP lawmakers yesterday at a parliamentary body meeting on the acute electricity crisis, the state minister for power tried to defend by terming himself as “powerless” to overcome the crisis.
While members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry blasted the state minister for the crisis, the state minis-
ter put the blame on a high-powered government committee, which takes “all the decisions” on the sector, meeting sources said.
“I can do nothing directly as I do not have any power. Decisions come from high levels. A committee takes all decisions bypassing me,” State Minister for Power Iqbal Hassan Mahmood told the meeting.
He would soon launch drive to improve the power situation by checking system losses, the state minister said, apparently in a bid to satisfy the concerned lawmakers.
To improve the power and energy sector, the government earlier formed a high-powered committee headed by the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Dr Kamal Siddiqui. The prime minister is herself in charge of the ministry.
Criticising the power division for not implementing any of the 15 listed power projects,
the ruling BNP lawmakers asked the state minister to project the real picture of present power situation.
If implemented, the 15 power projects would generate 2,910MW of electricity by this time, the meeting was informed.
The parliamentary committee members said if the projects were implemented on time, there would not be any power crisis in the country whereas the country now faces daily power shortage of 750 to 800MW.
“We as the lawmakers can not make people understand the situation. People become angry as they are facing electricity crisis in the month of Ramadan,” BNP lawmaker and committee member Habibul Islam Habib said.
The power division should inform people of the real situation about electricity, another BNP lawmaker and committee member Sardar Shakhawat Hossain Bakul said, adding, “ Don't make people be hopeful by false assurances.”
It should be examined whether some officials are engaged in conspiracy to make the government failure in tackling power crisis, he said.
The power division officials who attended the meeting, however, said the power situation is not so bad as projected by the media. 230MW of power will be added to the national grid by March 2006, they added.
The situation will improve soon as the government has initiated various measures, Committee Chairman Shahidul Islam told reporters.
Earlier the grassroots level leaders of the ruling BNP in pre-election discussions at the Prodhanmontri Bhaban on last Saturday and Sunday also blasted the government for the unbearable electricity crisis.