Sidhu attacks Amarinder on Punjab’s ‘power crises’
The Hindu
No need to impose power cuts, if action is taken in the right direction, he says
At loggerheads with Punjab Chief Minister Captain (retd.) Amarinder Singh, his former Cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday yet again fired shots at the Chief Minister about the ongoing ‘power crises’ in the State. In a series of tweets titled, “Truth of power costs, cuts, power purchase agreements and how to give free and 24-hour power to the people of Punjab”, Mr. Sidhu said there was no need of imposing power cuts in the State, if there’s action in the right direction. Pointing out that Punjab is buying power at average cost of ₹4.54 per unit while the national average is ₹3.85 per unit, Mr. Sidhu said that Punjab’s over-dependence on three Private Thermal Plants at ₹5 to ₹8 per unit makes Punjab pay more than other states.Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.