GUWAHATI, April 10 - Deploring the pathetic power supply scenario in the State, public activist Prof Deven Dutta has sought to know what happened to the pompous announcement of Power Minister Rakibul Hussain who had promised 24X7 power supply to the State from the later part of January this year.
In a statement, Prof Dutta said that the Power Minister had, in fact, repeated the pledge of uninterrupted power supply to the State three times in the past one year or so ever since he assumed charge of the Power Department.
�In the latest instance, Hussain, at a press conference in January this year, said that there would be 24X7 power supply and that power cuts would be a thing of the past. But the grim reality is that shortage of power and resultant load-shedding � including the unscheduled ones � have persisted as before,� he said.
Prof Dutta said that the people had a right to ask the minister the rationale behind uttering such a meaningless and false assurance. �The worsening power situation has hit the masses very hard, besides affecting trade and industry. The candidates of the recently concluded HSLC and HSSLC examinations, too, have been among those who have borne the brunt of the failure of the power authorities, the minister in particular,� he said.
Prof Dutta said that let alone interior areas, State capital Guwahati had been reeling under repeated and prolonged power cuts in the past three months.
