Were you 'blind' when power purchase pacts signed, Manpreet asks SAD

A day after the SAD accused the Punjab government of extending "undue benefits" to private power plants, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Thursday hit back at the opposition party, asking were they "blind" when power purchase agreements were signed during their regime. The FM further said the chief minister will form a high-powered committee to see "how all these agreements financially affected Punjab and what could be done to come out of the situation".

"Independent power plants were set up in their government. They can reply what were the terms and conditions," he said. "As far as we know, whosoever signed these agreements, either they were blind or blindfolded," Badal added lashing out at the previous SAD-BJP regime.

On Wednesday, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal had alleged that private power thermal plants were given "undue benefits" of Rs 2,500 crore by the Congress-led state government and sought an independent probe into it. Sukhbir had accused the state government of "deliberate laxity" in pursuing disputes involving Rs 2,500 crore on account of coal washing charges.

The Punjab finance minister, while referring to the coal washing charges, said it was not part of the agreements earlier signed with the private plants and it would now put an additional burden of Rs 2,000 crore on the exchequer. 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. Sukhbir had also accused the state government of not pursuing the case against the release of the charges to private plants appropriately in the Supreme Court.

The apex court had last year directed Punjab State Power Corporation Limited to pay the charges to private thermal plants against the order of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Corporation and the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, which had ruled in the favour of the power utility.

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