Delhi Power Minister Ashish Sood on Thursday accused Leader of the Opposition Atishi of a misinformation campaign about power cuts in the national capital. He alleged that the AAP leader is repeatedly making false statements about power outages in the city to mislead the public in a bid to create panic.

Refuting all allegations made by Atishi,  Sood emphasised that under the leadership of Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, the government is committed to making substantial reforms in the power sector.

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He said legal action is being explored against those spreading misinformation, and consultations with various departments are underway in this regard.

The power minister claimed that in the past 10 years, there have been 51,958 instances of power cuts exceeding five hours, averaging 14 outages per day.

He pointed out that two days ago, when the Opposition moved a calling attention motion in the Delhi Assembly on power cuts, they were conveniently absent.

He said globally, no power network can function without scheduled shutdowns for maintenance, and questioned as to how will AAP continue their practice of allegedly spreading lies.

He disclosed the minutes of a meeting on power issues on May 23, 2023, held under the then government were reviewed. It exposed several key facts, including power companies reporting multiple instances of extended power cuts lasting three to four hours.

According to Soods, the minutes of the meeting  also reveal that during the summer preparedness review meeting, the then power minister had inquired about areas experiencing frequent three to four-hour-long power outages.

The minister said that the former power minister had sought reports from BRPL on prolonged power outages in several localities, including Freedom Fighter Colony, Saket, Alaknanda, Aya Nagar, and Begumpur.

Sood said during the Assembly debate two days ago, he had presented various facts, and had  reaffirmed that no electricity network in the world can function without occasional shutdowns for maintenance.

He said, “If they (the AAP leaders) claim that there was not a single minute of power outage during their tenure, it means they neglected essential power maintenance altogether. This is nothing but political opportunism, Sood added.

Strict legal action under BNS sections will be taken against those who falsely accuse and disrupt the city’s harmony, the minister said.

The minister assured that the government would inform the citizens in advance before any scheduled power cuts and would execute them in a planned manner. He questioned why Atishi failed to address power shortages in 2024, despite her party’s claims of having improved the power sector.

He said despite the fact that the current government is only 40-42 days old, it is already working on transformer replacements to balance power loads.