The earlier SAD-BJP government had signed PPAs with private companies for coal-fired power plants in Rajpura, Mansa and Goindwal Sahib
Chandigarh: In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday threatened to cut off the power supply to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s house in Patiala if the state government failed to remove power purchase agreements with private plants.
AAP parliamentarian Bhagwant Mann accused the Punjab government of having a “secret pact” with private thermal plants. “This is the reason Punjab government neither got the accounts of power companies audited nor revoked the PPAs even after being in power for more than three years now,”.
Mann said, “If the Punjab government fails to terminate PPAs with private thermal plants inked by the earlier Badal government during the current budget session, the AAP will be forced to cut the power of Amarinder’s Moti Mahal on March 16,”.
A decision regarding the party’s core committee, Mann said the Congress had promised before the 2017 Assembly elections that it would review the PPAs after coming to power.
“Singh has the golden opportunity to terminate the anti-state PPAs in the current budget session, thus helping the people heave a sigh of relief from the recurring power shocks,”.
The Congress-led government has been facing criticism from the opposition parties over the rising power tariff in the state. The Akali Dal Party had also accused the Congress of “striking underhand deals” with the management of private thermal plants, resulting in a loss of Rs 4,100 crore to the state exchequer.
In Punjab, power rates were hiked by 36 paise a unit from January 1 for domestic consumers. On February 17, Singh had said that his government would renegotiate the power purchase agreements with private players. The earlier SAD-BJP government had signed PPAs with private companies for coal-fired power plants in Rajpura, Mansa and Goindwal Sahib.
On the other hand, the AAP’s core committee on Thursday also adopted a “congratulatory resolution” over the third tremendous victory of the party in the Delhi Assembly election under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal.
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