Dhanbad, Apr 18 (PTI) Asserting that there is no power shortage in the country, Union Minister of State for Power and Heavy Industries Krishan Pal Gurjar on Monday blamed the Jharkhand government for electricity crisis in the state.

The nation has sufficient electricity and the state can purchase it from the national grid to meet its demand if it experiences a shortage, he said.

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Dismissing allegations of a "step-motherly treatment" to Jharkhand by the Centre, Gurjar told journalists here, "power cut in the state is a failure on the part of the Jharkhand government. For covering its failure, it is blaming the central government.”

Gurjar, who inspected the DVC hydel power plant at Maithon along with Godda BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Nirsa MLA Aparna Sengupta, said the purpose of his visit to the facility was to assess the momentum of energy generation at the power plant.

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DVC chairman Ram Naresh Singh was also present.

"The country has made major strides in power generation... Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi both rural and urban areas are getting enough power supply round the clock," he said.

The minister said DVC generated 484 million units of power in the last fiscal.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren had recently alleged that the Centre was meting out a “step-motherly treatment” to Jharkhand, with Coal India not paying the “huge money” it owed to the state government while funds get auto-debited from the RBI account for Damodar Valley Corporation.

Gurjar also said that his visit as a central minister to a DVC power plant area in Jharkhand did not violate the model code of conduct in any way.

Rubbishing allegations levelled by the JMM and the Congress that the visit of central leaders in the state amounted to violation of the model code of conduct because of the ensuing panchayat elections, the minister said he did not address any election rally for seeking votes from people.

“Moreover, I did not lay any foundation stone for any new industry today which could have violated the model code of conduct,” he said.

As many as 1,127 panchayats will go to the polls in the first phase on May 14 and counting will take place on May 17.

On Saturday, a delegation of the ruling JMM-led alliance visited the state election commission seeking a ban on the visit of Union ministers to the state at this time, terming it as a strategy of the BJP to influence the panchayat polls.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)