Former minister of state for civil aviation and the current Hazaribagh MP Jayant Sinha on Saturday held chief minister Hemant Soren responsible for the ongoing power problem in seven districts of Jharkhand.

He even accused the Hemant government of not taking enough measures to tackle the coronavirus threat.

Dubbing the state government “incapable” of handling the power crisis, Jayant said he did not know that the honeymoon period of the Hemant government was so short after taking charge that it failed in all fronts.

Since March 10, power-generator Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has started 18 hours of loadshedding in seven districts — Hazaribagh, Ramgarh, Koderma, Chatra, Bokaro, Giridih, Dhanbad and East Singhbhum — of Jharkhand over arrears of Rs 4,995 crore.

Blaming Hemant for this, Jayant told the media at the BJP office Atal Bhavan: “I have talked to the DVC chairman who confirmed that new government had stopped paying them (DVC) every month due to which they find it difficult to purchase coal.”

Jayant said during the tenure of the BJP-led Raghubar Das government, negotiations were done with DVC when dues had touched Rs 8,000 crore.

“We started paying Rs 200 crore every month with the cooperation of the central government due to which this amount decreased to Rs 5,000 crore. The Das government had strengthened the supply network by giving power connection to a maximum number of households. But the new government is not working wisely,” Jayant said.

The BJP leader added: “I can only request that the CM takes electricity as his top priority. I came to know that Rs 400 crore was paid yesterday (Friday) to DVC but the state government should go in for a deal to make payments every month so that this trouble does not arise again,” he said.

He alleged that the Hemant government was not serious about the coronavirus threat. “Central government has forwarded the advisory to state governments. But Jharkhand government is not showing its seriousness. We need to close all schools, colleges, coaching centres and anganwadi centres first,” he said. “The government should make people aware people about handwashing. This is a must.”