Guwahati: The first day of the Budget Session of the 16th Assam Legislative Assembly on Monday witnessed heated exchanges and protests, with Congress legislators staging a walkout after Speaker Ranjeet Kumar Dass rejected an adjournment motion seeking an urgent discussion on the state's worsening power supply situation.
The motion was moved by Leader of the Opposition and Congress MLA Wazed Ali Choudhury, who urged the House to suspend its scheduled business and take up what he described as an "emergency" caused by erratic electricity supply, frequent power cuts and poor maintenance of transformers across Assam.
After the Speaker declined to admit the motion, Congress members walked out of the House in protest.
Speaking to reporters outside the Assembly, Congress MLA Nurul Huda accused the state government of failing to ensure uninterrupted power supply despite repeated assurances.
"The entire state is suffering in the sweltering heat while people continue to face prolonged load-shedding. The Assam government has failed to provide adequate electricity. Even today, we were not given an opportunity to move an adjournment motion and discuss this issue in the Assembly," Huda said.
“Through smart meters, the government is extracting money from the public. This must stop, along with the continuing load-shedding. We demand the government's immediate intervention to ensure adequate power supply,” he added.
Congress MLA Joy Prakash Das said the Opposition had sought the adjournment motion to highlight what it described as the government's failure to fulfil its promise of providing round-the-clock electricity.
“We had sought an adjournment motion over the BJP government's claim of providing 24x7 electricity. However, today people are struggling to get even 27 minutes of uninterrupted power supply. People in villages now joke that electricity comes only at intervals. We wanted a discussion on this issue in the Assembly, but the Speaker did not admit our motion,” Das alleged.
Earlier, while moving the adjournment motion, Choudhury said the deteriorating power situation had assumed the proportions of a public emergency and required immediate discussion in the House. He said prolonged outages, erratic supply and poor transformer maintenance had severely affected consumers despite the government's regular collection of electricity bills through smart meters.
“The government collects regular payments through smart meters, but what have the people received in return?” Choudhury asked.
Claiming that the state's power infrastructure was struggling to meet rising demand, he said electricity consumption had increased from around 2,880 MW to nearly 3,000 MW, while Assam's own hydroelectric and thermal power generation remained limited to about 450-500 MW.
“The state spends nearly Rs 19 crore every day to purchase electricity. Even after spending such a huge amount daily, why are the people of Assam still not getting adequate power supply?” he questioned.
Choudhury also said erratic electricity supply was affecting students, particularly during examinations, as there was no fixed schedule for power cuts or restoration.
With the Speaker rejecting the adjournment motion, Congress legislators alleged that the government had avoided a discussion on the issue of power supply in the House.
