UP Minister's Big Warning To Power Officials, Akhilesh Yadav's "Wires" Quip

Top officials in the Uttar Pradesh electricity department are not receiving distress calls from the public during power supply disruptions. This is not an allegation from the Opposition, but the state Energy Minister has publicly said that officials are not heeding instructions and lying to him when questioned.

With the minister flagging negligence and indiscipline in his department, the main Opposition Samajwadi Party has said the connection between the minister and officials has snapped.

AK Sharma, the minister, has posted on X that electricity officials have been told repeatedly that the toll-free helpline, 1912, cannot replace other modes of communication people may use to reach out to officials. Officials, he said, have been refusing to attend to distress calls on their numbers and asking people to call the helpline.

कई बार सांसद रह चुके एक वरिष्ठ राजनेता ने अभी-अभी अपने क्षेत्र से एक पढ़े-लिखे नागरिक की बिजली विभाग के वरिष्ठ अधिकारी के साथ हुई बातचीत का ऑडियों निम्नांकित लिखकर मुझे कार्यवाही करने के लिए भेजा है।

यही बात मैंने तीन दिन पहले UPPCL के चेयरमैन, MD और अन्य अधिकारियों को कहा… pic.twitter.com/xQ5I0XaPQB

— A K Sharma (@aksharmaBharat) July 26, 2025

"I had told them that people are facing problems. Officials have stopped receiving calls. And this is happening despite multiple instructions," he said. The minister said officials lied to him when they were asked about this at a recent meeting. He also warned that if officials do not understand their responsibility towards people, the consequences would be "dangerous".

He also shared an audio clip, saying that a senior politician had sent him the recording of a conversation between a senior electricity official and a citizen. In the clip, the official is heard asking the caller repeatedly to lodge complaints regarding power cuts with the helpline. During the call, the official is also heard claiming that he is related to Samajwadi Party leader Ramji Lal Suman and actor and Congress leader Raj Babbar. He also claims that state minister and BJP leader Baby Rani Maurya is his sister-in-law and Union Minister SP Singh Baghel is his friend. He keeps telling the caller that the power supply will be restored only if he calls the 1912 helpline. When the caller insists that he must act, the official says he is talking like a fool.

The minister alleged in his post that the official's relations with the Opposition's leaders indicate that he was working to malign the government's image.

In another post, the minister said "consumer is like god" and informed that Superintending Engineer Prashant Singh, the official in the call, had been suspended and asked officials to be committed to public service.

Samajwadi Party chief and Kannauj MP Akhilesh Yadav has taken a swipe at the state government as it struggles to get officials to work.

उप्र में बिजली विभाग का ट्रांसफॉर्मर उड़ गया है, मंत्री-अधिकारी के बीच के तार टूट गये हैं और त्रस्त जनता के बीच सरकार पर भरोसे के खंभे उखड़ गये हैं, जनआक्रोश का मीटर खटाखट बढ़ रहा है। उत्पादन का चक्का जाम है, संचार खंडित है और डिस्ट्रीब्यूशन के नाम भ्रष्टाचार की कमाई का वितरण… pic.twitter.com/SLdYjEgA5U

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 26, 2025

"In Uttar Pradesh, the electricity department's transformer has blown off. And the wires between the minister and officials have snapped. The poles of public trust have uprooted and the public outrage meter is showing a spike," Mr Yadav said in a post on X. Alleging corruption in power distribution, he said, "There is no power, only power bills in Uttar Pradesh. Light will come when the BJP goes. Uttar Pradesh citizens are saying they don't want BJP," he added.