Switch off power supply for half-an-hour every day: Minister

In order to stop wastage of electricity during the monsoon season, the West Bengal government Tuesday requested the people of the state to switch off power supply for at least half-an-hour every day.

The state government has taken up a programme "save energy, save earth and environment", Power minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said after a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

"Monsoon is nearing and to ensure that the power generation, transmission and distribution are not hampered we held a long meeting today. We have taken up a programme 'Save Energy, Save Earth and Environment'. We will not be forcing anybody but will be requesting the consumers to switch off the power supply for 30 minutes each day," Chattopadhyay said.

He said that the state government would hold awareness camps in the districts for the purpose and in order to make people understand the misuse of power.

Chattopadhyay further alleged that because of the "faulty" policies of the Central government the state was suffering from shortage of power generation.

He alleged that the Central government was taking longer time to handover coal mines allotted to West Bengal which was affecting power generation.

In the current year, Chattopadhyay claimed that the state government was able to make a profit of Rs 101 crore by stopping power theft.