Chandigarh [India], May 2 : Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday reached his office at 7:30 am as part of the revised timings for the government offices in the state during summer aiming to ease the load on electricity demand.
The Punjab government decided to operate all government offices from 7:30 am to 2 pm starting today and this will remain in force till July 15.
Mann was among the first few to arrive in the office.
Most other ministers, including Aman Arora, Brahm Shankar Jimpa, Harbhajan Singh and Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, reached their offices at 7.30 am.
"This initiative would help save power. "Though we have no shortage of power, but this will help save 350 MW of power in a day," Mann said while speaking to the media.
He further said that this reduction in power consumption, if monetised, will ensure that Rs 16-17 crore is saved per month as power bills.
Reiterating that there would be no power cuts on industry and domestic consumers, Mann said, "We have enough power to be diverted to the agriculture sector for the paddy season."
CM Mann said that he wanted to lead by example as he himself reached the office at 7.28 am.
However, Haryana Power Minister Ranjit Singh on Monday took a swipe at the Bhagwant Mann government's decision to change government offices' timings in the state to ease the load on electricity demand during summer and said Punjab will face a shortage of electricity in the coming days.
"Haryana does not supply free electricity that's why Haryana does not have any shortage of electricity and we are supplying the electricity without any cutoff and will supply it in the future, we are taking care of the facilities for our people", Singh said while boasting that Haryana does not face any shortage of electricity.
"We didn't even increase the electricity rates for many years but electricity is being provided to people. While Punjab government is distributing free electricity and is now starting to face problems. Due to this reason, the state government ordered to change the office timings from 7:30 am to 2:00 pm and we think that in the coming days, Punjab will face a shortage of electricity," he added.
The Power Minister also said that keeping the summer season in mind the Haryana government has made preparations in case of a hike in demand.
"Just like last time, this time also in Haryana, we will not let the shortage of electricity," said Singh.
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