SP, BSP target UP govt as heatwave exposes strain on power supply

The opposition Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party on Friday attacked the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over complaints of power shortages and prolonged outages, accusing it of failing to strengthen electricity generation and ensure reliable supply during peak summer conditions.

The criticism comes as severe heat conditions grip large parts of the state, pushing electricity demand sharply higher due to increased use of cooling appliances and irrigation loads, leading to outages lasting as long as 48 hours, affecting a multitude of services including water supply.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav took a swipe at the government over what he described as its inability to expand power generation capacity. “Setting up new power plants was neither within your capability nor within the scope of your narrow thinking. At least you could have uttered ‘3x660 Supercritical Thermal Power Plant’; even hearing it would have given some relief to people suffering in the scorching heat,” the former UP chief minister said in a post in Hindi on X.

He alleged that under the BJP government, “only the demand and price of electricity are increasing, not the supply”, adding that the state had been pushed into a “miserable condition”.

BSP president Mayawati also flagged widespread complaints of inadequate supply and electricity cuts during the intense summer spell. She said the situation had made life “extremely difficult” for poor and middle-class families, farmers, small traders and workers in India’s most populous state.

Calling for immediate intervention, she urged the government to improve supply, establish new power plants and adopt other corrective measures in the larger public interest.

Uttar Pradesh’s electricity system depends largely on coal-fired thermal plants — concentrated in districts such as Sonbhadra — alongside power procured from central generating stations, limited hydropower, growing solar capacity and electricity purchases from external markets during periods of peak demand. Despite its large installed base, the state remains vulnerable to summer demand spikes.

The BJP government has repeatedly highlighted improvements in the power sector. Chief minister Adityanath last year said the state had met a record peak demand of 31,486 MW while maintaining round-the-clock urban supply and expanded rural coverage, and announced measures to strengthen generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.

Government-linked data and official messaging have also claimed the gap between electricity demand and supply in Uttar Pradesh has narrowed to almost zero due to reforms, smart metering and infrastructure upgrades.

However, recurring official instructions to ensure “uninterrupted” power during heatwave periods, combined with continuing complaints of outages and supply disruptions, have raised questions about how resilient the system remains under extreme summer pressure.

With temperatures rising across north India and electricity demand expected to remain elevated, power availability is once again emerging as a politically sensitive issue in Uttar Pradesh.

With PTI inputs