Hyderabad: TJS MLC M Kodandaram has said that the BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) was still trying to back the decisions made during his rule, and that it was unfortunate to see him blaming the Justice L Narasimha Reddy Commission and trying to get away, instead of answering the queries being raised by the Commission.
He felt that criminal charges needed to be framed against those responsible for causing a loss to the State’s exchequer in the power purchases during the BRS regime.
Addressing the media after deposing before justice L Narasimha Reddy commission at BRK Bhavan on power purchases and construction of power plants during the BRS’ regime on Tuesday, he said felt that governments needed to keep the welfare of the people as paramount for any development activity, and not the welfare of a few individuals.
“The state’s Discoms accumulated Rs 81,000 debt. The then BRS government had neither the authority nor the right to make decisions in haste and carelessness. Governments should keep the costs low as it is the people’s money. It is 100% true that a few individuals got benefited in the power purchases and projects during the BRS rule,” he said.
He pointed-out that though the Centre was willing to supply power to the State at low rates, the State government just ignored it.
Also reminding how the production in Bhadradri power plant located on the banks of Godavari River was stalled due to floods entering the power plant, he questioned how we could save the power plant if at all the water-levels rise in the river significantly in the future.
He said that it was unfortunate to see BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao blaming the Commission and trying to get away, without answering the questions raised by the Commission.
Power expert Raghu, who accompanied him, said that there were three types of losses which the State had to incur due to the power purchase agreements with Chhattisgarh.
“We made MoUs for supply of 1,000 MW power from Chhattisgarh. It fell to 200 MW and now we have nil. Though the power supply through the corridors have decreased, we made payments to the tune of Rs 635 crore which was a loss. As they supplied less power, we had to purchase it from the open markets at a higher rate. The Discoms wrote two letters every month stating that the cost was increasing, and an additional burden of Rs 2,000 crore fell on the State. Also, due to not making payments on time, an additional burden of Rs 600-800 crore fell on the State,” he noted.
Also cautioning that there could be burden of Rs 9,000 crore which was going to fall on the State due to Bhadradri power plant, he said that Rs 1,600 crore burden annually through transportation cost could be a burden, because of the power plant located 280 km away from the coal mines.
“Low quality machinery was used in the Bhadradri power plant. Had the plant been built through competitive bidding instead of nominated bidding, the costs could have been low,” he opined.
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