Ludicrous to ask people to switch off lights to fight coronavirus: Maharashtra Minister

Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut said on Saturday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to switch off lights at 9 pm on Sunday to represent country's spirit in fight against COVID-19 as "ludicrous", adding that Modi's ideas are borrowed from Italy.

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 4 : Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut said on Saturday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to switch off lights at 9 pm on Sunday to represent country's spirit in fight against COVID-19 as "ludicrous", adding that Modi's ideas are borrowed from Italy.

Underlining that not only India but the whole world was united in the fight against coronavirus pandemic, Raut said, "It is ludicrous to ask the people to switch off the lights in the fight against the deadly pandemic virus."

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team had on innumerable occasion abused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi for being Italian. But the same Modi who is telling people to switch off the lights on the night at 9 pm on Sunday has borrowed the concept from Italy," he said.

"Also beating thali and utensils on the last occasion were Italian concept to honour the doctors and people engaged in providing essential services during the lockdown," the minister said in a statement.

The Maharashtra Minister said soon after the Prime Minister's announcement, he consulted the authorities managing the power grid and was shocked to know from them that the national grid due to cascading effect would trip and the country would plunge into darkness.

Raut said that the Indian economy from the year 2014 was slowing down at a greater speed and has reached to the bottom low ruining lives of the people.

As a consequence power plants were operating at 49 per cent of its installed capacity. Trends in power consumption were the indicator of economic growth, he added.

He said power sector was "incurring huge losses due to decreasing demands in industrial sector which had caused anxiety among all the state governments irrespective of their political affiliations".

"During such grim situation, asking people to switch off the lamps would definitely aggravate the sufferings of power sector," Raut said.

( With inputs from ANI )