The Odisha government has been facing mounting criticism from the Opposition parties for the past few days over the frequent power outages in different parts while the state reels under intense heat and humid conditions. Protesting the power outage, the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJD) on Wednesday launched a statewide agitation by holding demonstrations in front of Tata Power offices across the state.
The party announced that it will stage such demonstrations for two days against the frequent power cuts by the company. Holding traditional hand fans and lanterns in their hands, the BJP activists gheraoed the electricity office in Cuttack alleging that frequent power cut is causing numerous problems to the people in the city.
“Due to climate change, there will be a rise in power consumption and the state government should have a vision to meet the requirement. If state government claims that we are surplus state in terms of power generation, where the electricity is going,” questioned BJP leader Nayan Mohanty.
To counter the BJP, the ruling BJD today staged a massive demonstration in Bhubaneswar over price hike of various commodities. The senior leaders of the party and MLAs staged a dharna near Raj Bhawan.
“In 2014, the BJP-led NDA government had promised to control the price rise in 100 days. Be it petrol, diesel, gas or other commodities, it is now 9 years that no step has been taken. This is causing numerous problems for the common people. The Ujjawala scheme is a complete failure,” said BJD leader Byomkesh Ray.
Ray further said the BJD has submitted a memorandum addressed to the President through the Odisha Governor. “BJD has been fighting for the interest of the people and the party will intensify its agitation if the Centre fails to bring the prices down,” Ray added.