Telangana Congress Opposes PPA With Chattisgarh

Leader of Opposition in the Telangana State Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has strongly opposed the State government's decision to purchase 1,000 MW from Chattisgarh.

In a representation to the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission on Thursday, Shabbir Ali said that the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) would be operational only after three years, and would be valid for 12 years. When the TRS government had been claiming that Telangana would be a power-surplus State by 2018, why did it need to buy additional energy from a neighbouring State, he asked.

Shabbir Ali said that the installed capacity of thermal power stations in the State would reach 4,085 MW by April this year, which would include 600 MW from the Bhupalapalli and 1,200 MW from the Jaypore thermal power stations. Hydel power would increase the generation to 6,166 MW, while the government aimed to generate 2,000 MW solar power by this year-end. Therefore, as against the demand of about 8,000 MW, Telangana would have 9,166 MW, as per the claims of the State government.

The Congress leader also said the State government was proposing to increase the power generation from the present 4,320 MW to 23,675 MW by the end of 2018.

"In that case, there is no need to procure power from CSPDCL by putting additional burden on consumers. The Wardha-Maheshwaram and Angur-Palasa transmission lines are not in place, and there is no clarity on the dates of completion. The grid is expected to be completed not earlier than 2018," he added.

He also said that the PPA was in utter violation to the National Electricity Policy and National Tariff Policy, which envisage procurement of electricity only through competitive bidding while the PPA was entered into through the MoU route. Therefore, he said, the PPA between the Chattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited (CSPDCL) and TSDISCOMS (TSSPDCL & TSNPDCL) should be avoided.