Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday took a swipe at the Centre over the issue widespread power outages, saying the government has found the “perfect solution” to it which is to cancel passenger trains and run coal rakes. Various states continued to reel under power shortages on Friday with soaring mercury pushing the demand higher, as opposition parties blamed the Centre for coal shortages at thermal plants.

Attacking the government over the issue, Chidambaram said, “Abundant coal, large rail network, unutilised capacity in thermal plants. Yet, there is acute power shortage. Modi Government cannot be blamed. It is because of 60 years of Congress rule!”

“There is no incompetence in the Ministries of Coal, Railway or Power. The blame lies with past Congress ministers of the said departments!” he said. “Government has found the perfect solution: cancel passenger trains and run coal rakes! Modi hai, mumkin hai,” the former Union minister said in a series of tweets.

As a heatwave continued, the country’s peak power demand touched an all-time high of 207.11 GW on Friday and the railways cancelled 42 passenger trains to facilitate coal freight movement, with South East Central Railway (SECR) division that covers the coal-producing regions cancelling 34 trains.

Aam Aadmi Party and Congress leaders held the Centre responsible for the ongoing power crisis and alleged that logistical support was not being provided for coal distribution to power plants.

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