Patiala: Senior Congress leader and former Punjab power minister Rana Gurjit Singh on Friday accused AAP govt of mismanaging Punjab’s power sector, causing unannounced cuts across agricultural, industrial and domestic sectors.Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjit Singh warned that Congress would protest alongside farmers and industrialists if govt failed to address what he described as administrative paralysis.He alleged that govt had failed to prepare for the El Niño weather pattern despite warnings from meteorological agencies, leaving Punjab without adequate power reserves or coal buffers before the peak paddy season.He claimed state-owned thermal units at Lehra Mohabbat, Ropar and Sri Goindwal Sahib were deliberately operating below capacity on the pretext of coal shortages. According to him, Lehra Mohabbat had coal stocks for 13 days, Ropar for 28 days and Sri Goindwal Sahib for 18 days.He said domestic generation cost about Rs 4 per unit, while Punjab was spending billions on emergency purchases from the power exchange at more than Rs 10 per unit.He also alleged that Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission had pulled up the administration during Annual Revenue Requirement proceedings over unpaid subsidy bills. Against a demand of Rs 22,000 crore raised in Nov 2025, govt disbursed only Rs 15,000 crore in Feb 2026, he said, claiming the remaining money was diverted towards populist measures.He said Punjab State Power Corporation Limited had consequently borrowed Rs 10,000 crore at high interest rates from private lenders to fund routine operations, fuel procurement and pensions. He warned that the debt could eventually result in tariff increases and fuel-cost adjustments for consumers.He said erratic supply had affected paddy irrigation, while industrial clusters in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Mandi Gobindgarh faced forced weekly closures and unscheduled outages. Urban and rural households were also experiencing prolonged cuts, he added.Blaming political appointments and inexperienced officials in PSPCL and PSTCL, He alleged that mandatory pre-season review committee meetings had been abandoned.He demanded a white paper detailing daily plant load factors and spot-market spending, an independent technical audit of emergency power purchases, removal of unqualified appointees and immediate reactivation of institutional regulatory review panels.
