New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS): The Union Ministry of Power has barred 13 states from spot purchase of electricity after they failed to clear their dues to power generators.

These states will not be able to buy or sell electricity until they clear their dues to the power generators.

They have outstanding dues of over Rs 5,000 crore. The Ministry's decision came into effect on August 18 and power supply will be stopped from the evening of August 19. The decision can lead to power cuts in these states. To avoid power outages some states even started clearing pending dues.

CVoter-IndiaTracker conducted a nationwide survey on behalf of IANS to know people's views about the decision.

During the survey, people were divided in their views, with a bigger proportion of respondents -- 54 per cent terming the decision as wrong one.

However, 46 per cent of respondents approved the move.

As for the views of political supporters, while the majority of opposition voters, 61 per cent, opposed the decision, NDA voters were divided in their views.

As per the survey data, though NDA voters were divided in their opinion, a bigger proportion, 54 per cent, of them said that the ministry has taken the right decision in view of the pending dues of the states.

During the survey, views of both the urban and rural voters were divided on the issue. However, a bigger proportion of respondents belonging to these categories opposed the decision. As per the survey data 54 per cent urban voters and 55 per cent rural voters spoke against the decision.