Govt takes decision in compulsion, not public interest: Cong

Raipur, April 23, 2013

Congress on Tuesday said agriculture minister Chandrashekhar Sahu’s controversial remark on MoUs with power plants in Chhattisgarh was an apparent indicator that the BJP government takes decision in compulsion, not public interest. 

“Sahu’s remark has actually exposed the government’s developmental claims on the basis of pacts with power plants,” said state Congress president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey. 

“Though Sahu claimed that the government took decision to enter into large number of pacts on pressure created by Chhattisgarh state electricity regulatory commission (CSERC), the Congress believes that the government rather approved so many power plants on pressure of industrialists,” the duo said.

Notably Sahu, who is also incharge minister of Korba district, on April 22 told the scribes during his Korba visit that the government did inordinate number of MoUs with power plants. He, however, pointed that the government was compelled to take such decision to accomplish the agenda proposed by CSERC. 

Sahu also said that he was never in favour of too many power plants in state and had always opposed such proposals at every level, though he did not make his objections public. 

Sahu further said power plants were more needed in Delhi and Mumbai than Chhattisgarh. He told that the policy of power consumption came from western countries which link it with development. Such policy never fits in Indian context, he said. 

“It is strange that while chief minister Raman Singh holds energy department, the disclosure about pacts of the department was done by a responsible and senior minister of his cabinet. This is a serious matter and has certainly exposed how the head of the government works,” said Patel and Choubey.