'Smeared with manure, no one knows where he hid': Bibek Debroy slams 'grid failure' expert

Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Bibek Debroy on Sunday took to Twitter and posted a poem of sorts to hit back at the critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's '9 pm-9minute' call.  Soon after PM Modi's announcement on April 3, many opposition leaders had questioned PMs move and said it might cause the electric grid to crash, something that didn't happen.

'No one knows where he hid'

Bibek Debroy in his tweet took a dig at those critics and wrote, "There was a man who did say something about the grid. He was so damned sure, that smeared with manure, no one knows where he hid."

'One more thing the PM did not think about!'

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday expressed concern over PM's call to switch off lights at 9 pm on April 5, saying that it is not a contemplated move and might cause the electric grid to crash.

"An unprecedented drop in electricity demand at 9 pm Sunday and an immediate surge at 9.09 pm could cause the electrical grid to crash. So Electricity Boards are contemplating load shedding from 8 pm and staggered return to normal after 9.09 pm. One more thing the PM did not think about!" Tharoor tweeted.

Congress leader Hussain Dalwai on Saturday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should make arrangements for providing food and means for the needy people rather than calling for initiatives like lighting lamps. Backing Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut's statement he also said the '9 min at 9 pm' call may cause a power grid failure.

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'No impact on electrical grid during 9-mins lights-out'

Shortly after the country lit up at 9 pm on Sunday as a mark of solidarity towards the nation's fight against COVID-19, Power Minister RK Singh cleared that throughout the nine minutes, there was no impact on the electricity grid functioning. He said that the lights-out event went smoothly as appealed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lit a lamp for 9 minutes at 9 pm on Sunday, to challenge the darkness caused by the novel coronavirus. 

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