Channi asks Sukhbir to come clean on ‘Power Surplus’ status
Tuesday, 29/03/2016
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=152931&boxid=59055&uid=&dat=2016-03-29
SAD-BJP govt has purchased power worth Rs 58,461.02 Crore since 2007 onwards
Chandigarh : Challenging Sukhbir Singh Badal’s claim over ‘Power Surplus Punjab’ issue, Congress Legislature Party leader Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday said that the Deputy Chief Minister should tell the people of Punjab about the crucial reality of the surplus power. According to the RTI information revealed by Jasdeepak Singh (convener, RTI cell PPCC), the SAD-BJP has purchased power worth Rs 58,461.02 crore since they came to 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 was being purchased every year if the state was power surplus or it was 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 had been increasing every year since 2011-12. In 2011-12, it was 5284.85 crores, which rose to Rs 7218.81 crore very next year, then Rs 8222.19 crore in 2013-14, Rs 10,999.34 crore in 2014-15 and now just for four months (April to July 15) in 2015 the purchase is of Rs 4966.41 crore.
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 crore. Today the debt on the PSPCL since September 2015 is Rs 20,837 crore out of which 75 per cent is to be borne by the Punjab government .
Channi questioned the Deputy Chief Minister about the logic behind this huge purchase of power in the state. Already more than 21,000 industrial units have either closed or migrated from Punjab till 2014, why this power is being purchased when the industry is shifting from Punjab, he alleged.
