Congress appeals to people not to pay electricity bills till they get uninterrupted power supply
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Protesting frequent power outages across the state, the opposition Congress in Odisha called upon people not to pay pending electricity bills till they get uninterrupted power supply.
The call was given by Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattnayak on Monday when party workers and leaders staged a demonstration and gheraoed GRIDCO, the bulk power supplier, office in Bhubaneswar to protest frequent power outages across the state amid the hot and humid conditions.
Holding banners and raising "anti-government" slogans, the party workers gathered at the GRIDCO office and attempted to barge into the premises by breaking the barricades. However, they were prevented by police personnel.
Pattnayak said the state government had sanctioned Rs 5,000 crore to the distribution company for infrastructure development. Now the Energy minister is saying that the power outage is due to poor infrastructure.
He also said that Rs 20,000 crore was earmarked for electricity infrastructure development. Where is the remaining Rs 15,000 crore, the Congress leader asked adding that the people were suffering for no fault of theirs.
"We appeal to people not to pay pending electricity dues till they get uninterrupted power," Pattnayak said.
Congress MLA Suresh Routray alleged that the people in the state were suffering while Odisha supplies coal to other states.
Meanwhile, the BJP also gheraoed the Tata Power Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL) office in Dhenkanal on Monday while protesting the power outage in the district.
The demonstrators also threatened to call Dhenkanal bandh if TPCODL fails to address the power outage in the district.
The protest was later called off after TPCODL executive engineer assured of an uninterrupted power supply.
BJP activists also staged demonstration before the Tata Power office in Balasore's Soro protesting the power outage in the area.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses defence minister in surprise announcement
Jerusalem, Nov 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the Hamas group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the October 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralising his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
