Nagpur: Former energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule slammed reports that a Chinese cyber attack led to October’s grid failure in Mumbai saying the state’s power grid was not ‘advanced enough’ to be hacked.
Bawankule, who held the energy portfolio under Fadnavis government, told reporters here on Tuesday, “I know the power sector inside out. Believe me when I say there is absolutely no chance of the system getting hacked. It was a manual error and the officials failed to handle the crisis.”
He criticized energy minister Nitin Raut and home minister Anil Deshmukh saying they ‘were spinning tales’. “We have two senior cabinet ministers now putting the government machinery behind this imaginary tale. It all started with a report in an US-based newspaper. Then some eager police official seems to have played it up more than needed and our ministers took the story forward,” said Bawankule.
He added that by trying to blame Chinese cyber attack, the government is trying to deflect attention. “Government is trying to fool people and hide its failure. It was their inability to handle the issue that led to such a massive power failure. Grid load management should have been done, but it’s clear authorities failed to do so,” said Bawankule.
On Monday, Deshmukh had said preliminary investigation showed that last year’s power failure was an attempt at cyber-sabotage. TOI reported energy minister Raut was likely to present a report on Wednesday during the ongoing budget session.
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