New Delhi: Delhi power minister Ashish Sood on Tuesday warned of strict legal action against those allegedly spreading “misinformation” about power outages in the city.
Countering the allegations of prolonged power cuts in the capital levelled by the leader of the opposition Atishi and former CM Arvind Kejriwal, Sood claimed that AAP functionaries were trying to spread misinformation using “fake data and fabricated narratives” to “incite unrest”. He also charged AAP leaders with using bot accounts to claim that power outages were non-existent in their regime but were prolonged now.
Contrary to their claims, Delhi experienced power cuts exceeding one hour 21,597 times under AAP’s tenure last year, Sood said.
Atishi alleged that BJP pushed the capital into a power crisis within weeks of forming govt and accused Sood of attempting to cover up his govt’s failure with “blatant lies”.
Speaking in the house, Sood accused Atishi of “orchestrating a conspiracy” through fake social media accounts. “We will take strict action against such fake accounts and the people who support these accounts. We will take criminal action, not civil, against the culprits,” the power minister said.
He asserted that the outages were part of “routine maintenance” to ensure the reliability of power grids ahead of summer, a process that happens every year.
“We are a 40-day-old govt, yet they claim we disrupted a system that was perfect for the past 10 years. Let me tell you, there is no electricity crisis,” he said.
“Over the past 10 years, there were 2,72,137 power cuts in Delhi lasting over an hour, averaging 75 times per day. No one can refute this data.”
Questioning the opposition’s claims of uninterrupted power supply in 10 years, Sood said all AAP ministers had huge generators installed at their residences.
The minister said that Atishi’s residence was supplied electricity by two separate feeders, yet she “misleadingly” tweeted about power failures.
The opposition MLAs walked out of the assembly when Sood was speaking.
Earlier, AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar called for an adjournment motion under Rule 59 to discuss the issue in the assembly. AAP MLAs were not present in the house when his turn came. Taking exception to it, Speaker Vijender Gupta warned Kumar about his conduct, while some BJP MLAs demanded action against him.
“This conduct of the opposition was completely irresponsible. The house functions according to legislative procedures and rules, and it is inappropriate for the entire opposition to be absent during the discussion of a topic that was included in the agenda at their own request,” Gupta said.
Atishi, however, claimed that the data presented in Rajya Sabha by the Centre “confirmed that Delhi had round-the-clock electricity”. She added that an annual report on consumer service rating of discoms also ranked the city’s power companies as the top three in the entire country.
Quoting details of power cuts from the state load despatch centre, Atishi alleged that there were over 50 unscheduled power cuts in the month of March. She also dismissed Sood’s charge that AAP workers and bots were tweeting about power cuts.
“The people reporting power cuts on social media are not AAP workers; they are BJP supporters—the very people who voted for you,” she claimed.
New Delhi: Delhi power minister Ashish Sood on Tuesday warned of strict legal action against those allegedly spreading “misinformation” about power outages in the city.
Countering the allegations of prolonged power cuts in the capital levelled by the leader of the opposition Atishi and former CM Arvind Kejriwal, Sood claimed that AAP functionaries were trying to spread misinformation using “fake data and fabricated narratives” to “incite unrest”. He also charged AAP leaders with using bot accounts to claim that power outages were non-existent in their regime but were prolonged now.
Contrary to their claims, Delhi experienced power cuts exceeding one hour 21,597 times under AAP’s tenure last year, Sood said.
Atishi alleged that BJP pushed the capital into a power crisis within weeks of forming govt and accused Sood of attempting to cover up his govt’s failure with “blatant lies”.
Speaking in the house, Sood accused Atishi of “orchestrating a conspiracy” through fake social media accounts. “We will take strict action against such fake accounts and the people who support these accounts. We will take criminal action, not civil, against the culprits,” the power minister said.
He asserted that the outages were part of “routine maintenance” to ensure the reliability of power grids ahead of summer, a process that happens every year.
“We are a 40-day-old govt, yet they claim we disrupted a system that was perfect for the past 10 years. Let me tell you, there is no electricity crisis,” he said.
“Over the past 10 years, there were 2,72,137 power cuts in Delhi lasting over an hour, averaging 75 times per day. No one can refute this data.”
Questioning the opposition’s claims of uninterrupted power supply in 10 years, Sood said all AAP ministers had huge generators installed at their residences.
The minister said that Atishi’s residence was supplied electricity by two separate feeders, yet she “misleadingly” tweeted about power failures.
The opposition MLAs walked out of the assembly when Sood was speaking.
Earlier, AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar called for an adjournment motion under Rule 59 to discuss the issue in the assembly. AAP MLAs were not present in the house when his turn came. Taking exception to it, Speaker Vijender Gupta warned Kumar about his conduct, while some BJP MLAs demanded action against him.
“This conduct of the opposition was completely irresponsible. The house functions according to legislative procedures and rules, and it is inappropriate for the entire opposition to be absent during the discussion of a topic that was included in the agenda at their own request,” Gupta said.
Atishi, however, claimed that the data presented in Rajya Sabha by the Centre “confirmed that Delhi had round-the-clock electricity”. She added that an annual report on consumer service rating of discoms also ranked the city’s power companies as the top three in the entire country.
Quoting details of power cuts from the state load despatch centre, Atishi alleged that there were over 50 unscheduled power cuts in the month of March. She also dismissed Sood’s charge that AAP workers and bots were tweeting about power cuts.
“The people reporting power cuts on social media are not AAP workers; they are BJP supporters—the very people who voted for you,” she claimed.
Countering the allegations of prolonged power cuts in the capital levelled by the leader of the opposition Atishi and former CM Arvind Kejriwal, Sood claimed that AAP functionaries were trying to spread misinformation using “fake data and fabricated narratives” to “incite unrest”. He also charged AAP leaders with using bot accounts to claim that power outages were non-existent in their regime but were prolonged now.
Contrary to their claims, Delhi experienced power cuts exceeding one hour 21,597 times under AAP’s tenure last year, Sood said.
Atishi alleged that BJP pushed the capital into a power crisis within weeks of forming govt and accused Sood of attempting to cover up his govt’s failure with “blatant lies”.
Speaking in the house, Sood accused Atishi of “orchestrating a conspiracy” through fake social media accounts. “We will take strict action against such fake accounts and the people who support these accounts. We will take criminal action, not civil, against the culprits,” the power minister said.
He asserted that the outages were part of “routine maintenance” to ensure the reliability of power grids ahead of summer, a process that happens every year.
“We are a 40-day-old govt, yet they claim we disrupted a system that was perfect for the past 10 years. Let me tell you, there is no electricity crisis,” he said.
“Over the past 10 years, there were 2,72,137 power cuts in Delhi lasting over an hour, averaging 75 times per day. No one can refute this data.”
Questioning the opposition’s claims of uninterrupted power supply in 10 years, Sood said all AAP ministers had huge generators installed at their residences.
The minister said that Atishi’s residence was supplied electricity by two separate feeders, yet she “misleadingly” tweeted about power failures.
The opposition MLAs walked out of the assembly when Sood was speaking.
Earlier, AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar called for an adjournment motion under Rule 59 to discuss the issue in the assembly. AAP MLAs were not present in the house when his turn came. Taking exception to it, Speaker Vijender Gupta warned Kumar about his conduct, while some BJP MLAs demanded action against him.
“This conduct of the opposition was completely irresponsible. The house functions according to legislative procedures and rules, and it is inappropriate for the entire opposition to be absent during the discussion of a topic that was included in the agenda at their own request,” Gupta said.
Atishi, however, claimed that the data presented in Rajya Sabha by the Centre “confirmed that Delhi had round-the-clock electricity”. She added that an annual report on consumer service rating of discoms also ranked the city’s power companies as the top three in the entire country.
Quoting details of power cuts from the state load despatch centre, Atishi alleged that there were over 50 unscheduled power cuts in the month of March. She also dismissed Sood’s charge that AAP workers and bots were tweeting about power cuts.
“The people reporting power cuts on social media are not AAP workers; they are BJP supporters—the very people who voted for you,” she claimed.
New Delhi: Delhi power minister Ashish Sood on Tuesday warned of strict legal action against those allegedly spreading “misinformation” about power outages in the city.
Countering the allegations of prolonged power cuts in the capital levelled by the leader of the opposition Atishi and former CM Arvind Kejriwal, Sood claimed that AAP functionaries were trying to spread misinformation using “fake data and fabricated narratives” to “incite unrest”. He also charged AAP leaders with using bot accounts to claim that power outages were non-existent in their regime but were prolonged now.
Contrary to their claims, Delhi experienced power cuts exceeding one hour 21,597 times under AAP’s tenure last year, Sood said.
Atishi alleged that BJP pushed the capital into a power crisis within weeks of forming govt and accused Sood of attempting to cover up his govt’s failure with “blatant lies”.
Speaking in the house, Sood accused Atishi of “orchestrating a conspiracy” through fake social media accounts. “We will take strict action against such fake accounts and the people who support these accounts. We will take criminal action, not civil, against the culprits,” the power minister said.
He asserted that the outages were part of “routine maintenance” to ensure the reliability of power grids ahead of summer, a process that happens every year.
“We are a 40-day-old govt, yet they claim we disrupted a system that was perfect for the past 10 years. Let me tell you, there is no electricity crisis,” he said.
“Over the past 10 years, there were 2,72,137 power cuts in Delhi lasting over an hour, averaging 75 times per day. No one can refute this data.”
Questioning the opposition’s claims of uninterrupted power supply in 10 years, Sood said all AAP ministers had huge generators installed at their residences.
The minister said that Atishi’s residence was supplied electricity by two separate feeders, yet she “misleadingly” tweeted about power failures.
The opposition MLAs walked out of the assembly when Sood was speaking.
Earlier, AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar called for an adjournment motion under Rule 59 to discuss the issue in the assembly. AAP MLAs were not present in the house when his turn came. Taking exception to it, Speaker Vijender Gupta warned Kumar about his conduct, while some BJP MLAs demanded action against him.
“This conduct of the opposition was completely irresponsible. The house functions according to legislative procedures and rules, and it is inappropriate for the entire opposition to be absent during the discussion of a topic that was included in the agenda at their own request,” Gupta said.
Atishi, however, claimed that the data presented in Rajya Sabha by the Centre “confirmed that Delhi had round-the-clock electricity”. She added that an annual report on consumer service rating of discoms also ranked the city’s power companies as the top three in the entire country.
Quoting details of power cuts from the state load despatch centre, Atishi alleged that there were over 50 unscheduled power cuts in the month of March. She also dismissed Sood’s charge that AAP workers and bots were tweeting about power cuts.
“The people reporting power cuts on social media are not AAP workers; they are BJP supporters—the very people who voted for you,” she claimed.
