Bhubaneswar, June 12: Odisha Chhatra Congress, the student wing of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, on Monday demanded the resignation of Energy Minister Pratap Keshari
Deb for the frequent power cuts at the peak of summer.
Hundreds of Chhatra Congress supporters carrying lantern and hand made palm leaf fans shouted slogans and pelted tomatoes at the residence of the Minister in protest.
The chhatra Congress activists also scuffled with the security personnel while they tried to forcefully entered into the residence of the Energy Minister and the security personnel prevented them.
Led by Chhatra Congress President Yashir Nawaz the agitators also sat on dharna in front of the residence of the Minister.
Nawaz said while the people were facing a lot of trouble due to heatwave conditions and frequent undeclared power cuts , the Minister instead of trying to ensure uninterrupted supply power was talking like an agent of the power Utility Tata Power Corporation.
The Chhatra congress leader alleged that there was no improvement in power situation even after
the government spent crores of rupees for power infrastructure . He alleged that power is being cut for hours in the Capital city Bhubaneswar ‘you can imagine the situation in rural areas’.
Earlier, the Minister had said that there was no power cut in the state and blamed poor infrastructure as the reason behind power outages. Power is being cut to undertake repair work, he had said.
However, Nawaz said the Chhatra Congress will intensify their agitation in the coming days till the power supply was not normalised.
