Andhra refutes Centre's claim on providing power to state at cheap rate
Andhra Pradesh on Saturday refuted Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's claim that the Centre was providing power to the state at Rs 2.70 per unit.
AP Principal Advisor Ajeya Kallam stated that the state is in fact procuring power from the public sector units at an expensive rate of Rs 5.5 lakh per megawatt.
Addressing the media in Amaravati, he said the YSRCP government has not altered the tariff of Rs 7.65 per unit, set for industries, by the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government.
"The NTPC is selling power to the state at the rate of Rs 9.84 per unit along with transmission charges of Rs 5 lakh per megawatt which the AP government is forced to pay even in case of power purchased from neighbouring states. As such the state is forced to bear an additional burden of Rs 1,700 crore," he said.
During the course of the Andhra Jan Samvada's virtual rally on Friday, the Finance Minister had also cautioned the YSRCP government in the state against cancelling agreements which have international funding.
Kallam claimed that Andhra Pradesh has never opposed the agreements reached with the Centre.
"Andhra Pradesh has not been allocated coal mines so far after the bifurcation of the state and as a result, it is forced to bear Rs 2,500 crore additionally per year," he pointed out.
He blamed the agreements reached by the previous TDP regime with the Central government for the hike in electricity charges in the state.
"The previous TDP government has left behind a debt of Rs 40,000 crore to the present government as it had kept bills worth Rs 13,390 crores pending in the power sector. When compared to the previous government, the YSRC government has saved Rs 5,000 crore this year in the power sector. In 2014, the total debt to all the power units was Rs 24,800 crore and now it has increased to Rs 70,000 crore," he said.
The YSRCP government is taking all steps to eliminate corruption by implementing reverse tendering and strengthening the governance from the village level and thereby saving a lot, he added.
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