Relax, malls and shops in UP won't shut early after all

Lucknow: It came dangerously close to being his first big misstep. Before it could be implemented, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has cancelled an order for shops and malls to close by 7 pm.

After parties like the Congress and the BJP stormed out of the assembly today, the political consequences of this bizarre solution to the power crisis finally dawned on the Akhilesh Yadav government.

Traders associations too had strongly opposed such a move, saying that evening hours were peak business periods and losses for the trader community would mount for the 15-day period during which this order would be applicable.

Uttar Pradesh is reeling under a shortfall of 1500 to 2000 MW of power supply every day.

The logic of the state government was to divert the power from commercial areas to residential and rural areas that have been facing scheduled power cuts.

The state government's power projects only pump in 4240 MW of electricity which is half the total capacity of the indigenous power plants.

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