Lucknow, Oct 11 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh government Tuesday pointedly blamed the centre for the sudden power crisis that has hit not only the state but also a large part of the northern grid.

Reacting sharply to a statement issued by Delhi Energy Minister Haroon Yusuf, who had accused the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation of overdrawing power from the northern grid, a state government spokesman said: "It is shocking to find a minister of one state making wild accusations against another state government when fact remains that the central-government run National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) was unable to provide its assured power to the northern grid."

He said: "I am shocked at the ignorance of the Delhi energy minister who went to the extent of blaming Uttar Pradesh for its own shortfall of power supply."

According to the spokesman: "Far from overdrawing, what Uttar Pradesh is currently receiving from the central pool is nearly 2,300 MW less than the scheduled quota and Delhi too is receiving 1,000 MW less than its allocated quota. So where is the question of Uttar Pradesh depriving Delhi of its power?"

"As against the scheduled allocation of 5,300 MW, Uttar Pradesh is receiving only 3,000 MW out of the central pool. It is therefore very obvious that the Congress government in Delhi is simply misleading the people of Delhi by passing the buck for its own UPA government's failures to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)-run Uttar Pradesh government."

He said: "We are compelled to purchase power from other states at a much higher rate, so that we can remain as close to our daily requirement as possible."

According to official records, as against a daily demand of about 9,000 MW, Uttar Pradesh is able to muster only about 7,500 MW.