BJP Demands Probe Into Gas Shortage

The Bharatiya Janata Party, on Sunday, demanded an enquiry into the allocation of gas of the KG Basin to power-generating units in Andhra Pradesh.

In a letter to Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister S Jaipal Reddy, former minister Bandaru Dattatreyya said that the capacity of Well No. D 6 of the KG Basin, owned by Reliance, was 50 MMCM, but that the actual production was not more than 30 MMCM.

He alleged that Reliance was deliberately cutting down on production in order to create artificial shortage.

Demanding a detailed enquiry, Bandaru said that more than 7 gas-based power projects owned by GVK, Spectrum, Lanco, Vemagiri, Gautami and Konaseema, had come up in East Godavari district, with a captive power of 2,900 MW.

"As there is a short supply of gas, power projects can generate only 13,00 MW of power," he said.

Dattatreyya said that the industrial and agriculture sectors were suffering due to the shortage of power supply. He demanded that the reasons for shortage of gas be probed.

Further, he said that former Chief Minister the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had announced a 1,000 MW power plant at Sankarpally in Ranga Reddy district with a gas grid.

The government had also promised to supply domestic gas directly to houses through pipelines, he noted. Also, the present government has also promised to install a gas-based power project of 2,100 MW at Karimnagar, he added.

However, those projects cannot be executed unless gas is allotted for them, he said. (INN)