The Opposition stormed out of the Assembly in protest against what it termed the present Government’s inept handling of the power crisis. An adjournment motion on the issue was moved by former Electricity Minister Sri. A K Balan. According to the former Minister, mismanagement by the KSEB had forced imposition of the burden of a thermal power surcharge and an unannounced load shedding upon the consumers. The Government could have done without the surcharge – 25 paisa per unit collected from October 1 – as the KSEB had a revenue surplus of Rs 22 crore, he argued. Quite promptly, Electricity Minister Sri. Aryadan Mohammed replied that the proposal for imposing thermal fuel surcharge was moved by the previous LDF Government, when Sri.Balan himself was the Electricity Minister.