UPA Govt suffering from 'policy paralysis': Nitish

Perturbed over grim power situation in Bihar due to conflict among warring public sector undertakings, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today slammed the Centre saying it is suffering from "policy paralysis" which has been known to everybody.
"The Centre is gripped with policy paralysis and that is known to everybody....There is acute shortage of coal at power plants due to conflict between the NTPC and Coal India - both public sector undertakings and the third party (Indian Railway) of the conflict too happens to be another public sector undetaking," he said, addressing an Investors Meet here.
As a result of conflict among various public sector undertakings, the state was gripped with acute power crisis, Kumar said a day after he had urged the Centre to intervene in the matter at the earliest for resumption of power generation at the NTPC's Farakka and Kahalgaon plants from where Bihar gets bulk of its central quota of power.

The Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) has stopped coal supply to the NTPC's Farakka and Kahalgaon thermal power plants causing below-capacity power generation at these two plants after the latter suspended payments on the ground that it will do so only after evaluating quality and quantity of the natural fuel being supplied by the former through freight service by the railways.
The Chief Minister also took to task the UPA government for inordinate delay in following up its promise to revisit the special status criteria which is an aspiration of the people of Bihar and could bring in additional incentives and tax benefits for potential investors in the state.

The Chief Minister assailed the Centre's decision to de-control sugar and said that it will further escalate inflation and price rise.