Dehradun, Jun 17 (PTI) Opposition Congress on Friday vehemently raised the issue of Uttarakhand's dismal power scenario in the state assembly and demanded immediate measures from the government to improve the situation.

Initiating the debate in the state assembly on the concluding day of the budget session on Friday, Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya said Uttarakhand used to boast of being a power-surplus state or "Urja Pradesh" at the time of its creation, but today it is forced to buy electricity from outside and still failing to meet the power needs of the state.

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Uttarakhand had to buy electricity at the rate of Rs 20 per unit to partially bridge the gap between demand and supply, Arya said.

Congress MLAs spoke of the problems faced by farmers, students preparing for their examinations or attending online classes due to acute shortage of power which leads to prolonged and unscheduled power cuts.

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Farmers cannot irrigate their lands and industries cannot function due to non-availability of power for 10-12 hours on an average, they said.

The opposition members also suggested that switching over to alternative sources of energy like solar power was the only way out.

Replying on behalf of the government, parliamentary affairs minister Prem Chand Aggarwal admitted that the past two-three months were indeed difficult as far as availability of power was concerned.

Attributing it to the rise in the coal and gas prices in the international market due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Aggarwal said the state government did everything within its powers to assuage the problem of people.

(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)