Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to restore gas to the gas based power plants and save the industries and agricultural sectors of Andhra Pradesh by issuing suitable guidelines to the authorities concerned. In a letter, addressed to Prime Minister a copy of which was released to the media here, BJP senior leader and former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said due to present short supply/power cuts to the industries in the state many of the small scale industries were closing down, owing to which the unemployment is increasing. He said the decision taken by the Group of Ministers (GoM) in cutting down the supply of gas to the gas based power plants in the state would lead to more shortage of power and many more industries will be closed and unemployment will be increased. The average demand for power was over 250 MU per day against which the supply from AP Transco was just around 200 MU with a resultant shortfall of 50 MU per day, he said.
Added to this, 14 units of gas based power plants have been shut down in the state following the cut of gas supply. The decision taken by the GoM has resulted in a loss of 1,174 megavats equalling to 27.23 MU of energy, Mr Dattatreya added. UNI