Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh: 28-03-16: S Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is in habit of building castles in air, should come clean on the so-called “POWER SURPLUS PUNJAB”. Challenging his hollow claims on the issue of power surplus Punjab S Charanjit Singh Channi, Congress legislature party leader, today said that the Deputy Chief Minister of the state should tell the people of Punjab about the crucial reality of the power surplus. According to the RTI information revealed by S Jasdeepak Singh (convener, RTI cell PPCC), the SAD BJP has purchased power worth Rs 58,461.02 Crores since they came into power from 2007 onwards till now. Channi asked the Deputy Chief Minister to explain to the people of Punjab why this exorbitant amount of power is being purchased every year if the state is power surplus or it is being projected as power surplus by keeping the public exchequer at stake.
Channi further said that the power purchased by Punjab state power corporation limited is increasing every year since 2011-12 onwards. In the year 2011-12 it was 5284.85 Crores, which rose to Rs 7218.81 Crores very next year, then 8222.19 Crores in 2013-14, 10999.34 Crores in 2014-15 and now just for four months (April to July15) in the year 2015 the purchase is of 4966.41 Crores. The power purchased from the Rajpura plant owned by L&T and the Talwandi sabo owned by Sterlite for the four months in the 2015 amounts to 2928.19 Crores. Today the debt on the PSPCL since September 2015 is 20,837 Crores out of which 75% is to be borne by the Punjab government which is already bankrupt and is facing financial emergency in the state.
Channi questioned the Deputy Chief Minister S Sukhbir Singh Badal about the logic behind this huge purchase of power in the state. Already more than 21000 industrial units have either closed or migrated from Punjab till 2014, why this power is being purchased when the industry is shifting from Punjab. Why more than 200 crores of power is being purchased from the private players for only four months period( April to July 2015). How many of these private players are directly or indirectly linked with the businesses of Badal Family. Similarly he also questioned the Deputy Chief Minister about the status of the government owned thermal plants where they have not been able to allocate the coal blocks yet. Why the power is being purchased through private players who are running private plants in Talwandi Sabo, Rajpura and Goindwal Sahib while the Ropar, Bhatinda and Lehra Mohabbat are kept closed intentionally.
Commenting on the “RAJ NAHI SEVA” slogan by the SAD BJP government, Channi said that this year the common man will again have to face the brunt of the wrong policies of this government. In the financial year 2016-17 and 2017-18 the increase in power tariff will be around 9%. The congress party completely rejects the increase in the power tariff rates in all the sectors as the consumer is not in a position to bear more burden on their pockets. The SAD BJP government should check the transmission and distribution losses and reduce them as possible to cover up for the losses of PSPCL.
