Bhopal: Opposition Congress today staged a walk-out in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, claiming that class 10th and 12th students were writing their board examinations in darkness due to power cuts.
Congress MLAs Kamleshwar Patel (from Sihawal) and Rampal Singh (from Beohari) raised the issue of power cuts in Sidhi, Singrauli, Rewa, Satna, Anuppur, Umaria, Shahdol, Bhopal, Indore and some other districts through a calling attention motion.
Energy Minister Paras Jain denied that such a problem existed.
"There is no shortage of power in the state. The domestic consumers at the district headquarters have been getting average power supply of between 23 hours 36 minutes and 23 hours 57 minutes every day. The supply time in the rural area is between 23 hours seven minutes and 23 hours 48 minutes," the minister said.
"So, it's a wrong allegation that load-shedding has been creating trouble for the students," Jain said.
Farmers were also getting enough power, he added.
Dissatisfied with the reply, Congress members staged a walk-out.
Patel claimed outside the House that load-shedding was rampant.
"There are long power cuts in the rural areas. Students, farmers and poor people in villages are suffering," he said.
