The demand for immediate steps to improve power supply has grown louder in Uttar Pradesh with the State witnessing frequent power cuts. Residents have created an uproar over the issue saying that the intense heat wave has added to their woes.

However, Opposition parties on Saturday alleged that the current power cuts highlight the complete failure of the Yogi Adityanath-led State government to expand power generation capacity.

Samajwadi Party (SP) workers expressed their anger by holding symbolic protests in Kanpur and Amethi. Protesters said the public is forced to live in darkness and the claim of the Electricity Department about an improvement in the supply is only on paper.

“We are forced to live in darkness as electricity is available only five hours in the night. There is power cut even in the morning,” said Anshul Pandey, an SP worker from Kanpur.

The Congress alleged that an institutional and structural failure is responsible for the crisis. Party national secretary Shahnawaz Alam said, “I am currently in Ballia. Since five days, there have been massive power cuts. This shows structural failure as the department failed to increase its productivity keeping in view the rising demand.”

The Vidyut Karmchari Joint Sangharsh Samiti said that the so-called vertical restructuring system implemented in the power corporation and the lay-offs of experienced contract workers have completely devastated the power system in the State. This system, implemented in the name of improving the existing one, has now become a serious crisis for consumers, power workers, and the department itself,” said a statement issued by the outfit.