CM Amarinder Singh says Punjab will renegotiate power pacts with private players

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said his government would renegotiate the power purchase agreements (PPAs) which the erstwhile SAD-BJP government had signed to “defraud the state and its people.”
He added that given the shortfall in production by the state-owned power plants at Lehra Mohabbat and Ropar, the government would work around the existing arrangements with private players to make power rates more affordable while ensuring that the peak demand of 13,000MW is effectively met.He also warned the private players against messing with Punjab’s finances.
The CM was addressing the newly elected Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) office-bearers over tea on Monday when he made the announcement. He claimed that the state was reconsolidating its financial position due to his government’s efforts over the last three years and any attempt to scuttle the momentum would not be tolerated. A section of Congress leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa and state president Sunil Jakhar, have been demanding that the controversial PPAs be renegotiated so that the consumers do not have to face back-to-back hikes in tariff.
The PPAs had lately turned into a political issue with AAP also targeting the Congress government for continuing with the arrangement made by the previous SAD-BJP government. It had demanded that the state government scrap the PPAs. Reacting to this, the chief minister had announced last month that a white paper on the power scenario will be presented in the monsoon session of Punjab assembly to “expose the fraud” committed by the Akalis with regard to the controversial PPAs with private players.
Last week, AAP MLA Aman Arora wrote to Congress national president Sonia Gandhi, pointing out that the state Congress unit, in its 2017 assembly election manifesto, had promised to scrap or review the “anti-Punjab” agreements with three private power plants but nothing had been done in this regard even when the government was about to complete three years in power.
Even the Akalis had sought an independent probe into the matter, alleging that the state extended “undue benefits” of Rs 2,500 crore to private power plants. SAD had accused the government of “deliberate laxity” in pursuing disputes involving Rs 2,500 crore on account of coal washing charges.
Through the coal washing process, impurities like ash, soil, rock are removed from coal. Due to these charges, power rates in Punjab were increased by 36 paise a unit from January 1 for domestic consumers.