Leader of Opposition in Telangana State Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has strongly opposed the State government’s decision to purchase 1,000 MW from Chattisgarh State.
In a representation to Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission on Thursday, Shabbir Ali said the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) would be operational only after three years and would be valid for 12 years. When the TRS government has been claiming that Telangana would be a power-surplus State by 2018, why does it need to buy additional energy from a neighbouring State?, he asked.
Shabbir Ali said the installed capacity of thermal power stations in the State would reach 4085 MW by April this year, which includes 600 MW from Bhupalapalli and 1200 MW Jaypore thermal power stations. Hydel power will increase the generation up to 6,166 MW while the government aims to generate 2,000 MW solar power by this year end. Therefore, as against the demand of about 8,000 MW, Telangana will have 9,166 MW, as per the claims of State Government.
The Congress leader said the State government was proposing to increase the power generation from the present 4,320 MW to 23,675 MW by the end of 2018. “In that case, there is no need to procure power from CSPDCL by putting additional burden on consumers. The Wardha-Maheshwaram or Angur-Palasa transmission lines are not in place and there is no clarity on the dates of completion. The Grid is expected to be completed not earlier than 2018. He also said the PPA was in utter violation to the National Electricity Policy and National Tariff Policy which envisages procurement of electricity only through competitive bidding while the PPA has been entered into through MoU route. Therefore, he said, the PPA between Chattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited (CSPDCL) and TSDISCOMS (TSSPDCL & TSNPDCL) could be avoided. (NSS)
Shabbir opposes PPA with Chattisgarh
