Punjab purchased power worth ` 58,000 cr since 2007: Channi
Tuesday, 29/03/2016
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CHANDIGARH: State Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday asked deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to clarify his claims on the issue of the state being power surplus.
Referring to the RTI information revealed by Jasdeepak Singh, convener, RTI cell of Punjab Pradesh Cong ress Committee, Channi said the SAD-BJP government had purchased power worth Rs 58,461 crore since they came into power in 2007.
Channi asked the deputy CM to explain to people why this exorbitant amount of power is being bought every year if the state is power surplus.
He said the power purchased by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited is increasing every year since 2011-12. In 2011-12, it was worth Rs 5,285 crore, which rose to Rs 7,219 crore the next year, Rs 8,222 crore in 2013-14, Rs 10,999 crore in 2014-15 and from April to July in 2015 the purchase was worth Rs 4,966 crore.
The power purchased from the Rajpura plant owned by L&T and the Talwandi Sabo plant owned by Sterlite for the four months in the 2015 amounts to Rs 2,928 crore. The debt on the PSPCL since September 2015 is Rs 20,837 crore of which 75% is to be borne by the Punjab government, which is already bankrupt, Channi claimed.
He asked the state government to check transmission and distribution losses and reduce them to cover up the PSPCL’s losses.
