GUWAHATI, June 2 � Firing a salvo at State Power and Industry Minister Pradyut Bordoloi, the All Assam Students� Union today said the State government�s inefficiency was responsible for the lack of industrial development and inadequate power generation in the State.
In response to Bordoloi�s allegations against the student body�s role in retarding the pace of industrial development through agitations etc., the AASU said that it was in favour of industrial development, provided it served the interest of the local people.
Also rubbishing the minister�s remark about the AASU backing BJP leader Sarbananda Sonowal and also lobbying for a ministerial berth for him, the student body said choosing a minister for his cabinet is the prerogative of the Prime Minister and the State Power Minister should know about it.
Demanding a white paper from the minister concerned over the progress made in the power and industry sector during his tenure, AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya said that despite having the capacity to produce 1876 MW, the power projects of the State were producing only 325 MW. �Levelling baseless allegations would not cover up the State government�s inefficiency,� he said.
Giving the break-up, Bhattacharyya said that in June 2011, the ASEB had communicated to the State government regarding the requirement of 1715 MW power in 2014-15, 1817 MW in 2016-17 and 2532 MW in 2017-18.
�While the power projects functioning currently are not producing up to their capacity, the government has utterly failed to revive the BTPS, Chandrapur and Margherita projects, which along with the proposed Lower Kapili project can produce up to 1500 MW power.
�Clubbed with other smaller power projects, the State would have been able to generate more than 1876 MW power on its own, had the State government and the minister concerned taken the right steps at the right time,� said Bhattacharyya.
With regard to the AASU protest movement against the Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project, he said that it would continue with its protest irrespective of the change of Government at the Centre. The project has to move forward as per the expert committee�s recommendations,� he said.
The AASU further criticised the State government for not being able to extract much from the 11th Planning Commission. �Uttar Pradesh got the sanction for three state and two private projects of 3600 MW and Gujarat got eight state and two private projects of 5230 MW sanctioned. Even Meghalaya got the sanction for two state projects of 124 MW, whereas Assam lagged behind with only one state project of 37.2 MW,� said the AASU.
