Power cut mars Madhya Pradesh power minister's presser

Madhya Pradesh Energy Minister Priyavrat Singh faced an embarrassing moment on Tuesday when there was a power outage during his press conference.

The media interaction had been organised to inform about the Congress government's achievements in the power sector in the last eight months after coming to power.

Singh was speaking to journalists at the state Congress headquarters 'Indira Bhawan' when the power supply was interrupted.

"The power was restored within a minute. It may be a conspiracy. If it would have been a (genuine) power cut, then the supply would not have been restored within a minute," he said when asked about the disruption.

Blaming the previous BJP government for the poor financial condition of power companies, the minister said, "We inherited power companies with a deficit of over Rs 47,400 crore. Distribution and transmission losses had reached 32 per cent.

"Despite this, our government has extended benefits to all domestic consumers," he said.

The energy minister also informed about the state cabinet's decision on Monday to provide electricity at Rs one per unit to domestic consumers with consumption up to 100 units per month, with the upper cap of 150 units.

The initial 100 units would be charged at Rs one per unit, while the next 50 units would be charged as per the prevailing rates, Singh explained.

A family consuming less than 150 units per month will get a benefit worth Rs 6,336 a year with this scheme, he said.