The Odisha unit of the CPI (M) is opposing the State government’s attempts to again hand over power distribution companies to private entities for their management, terming it a deception of public faith.
The party has decided to take up mass agitation in the State against the proposal. As per reports, the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has initiated process to auction management of the Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) so that it could be taken over by some private company.
The CESU is one among the four power discoms of Odisha which were formed after privatisation of power sector in the State. Earlier, the CESU was known as the CESCO and an American company, AES, had taken over its management but had withdrawn from the CESCO in 2001. In 2005, the OERC had cancelled its license. “Dues could not be collected from the AES,” said CPI (M) state secretary Ali Kishore Patnaik.
Now, the CESU is a government-owned ‘public utility’.
This year, the OERC has revoked licences of Reliance Infrastructure which was managing three other power discoms -- Southco, Nesco and Wesco. Reliance has dues worth Rs.2,650 crore .
The CPI (M) feels that the State government should not allow private companies to take charge of power distribution. The party has urged the State government to stop auctioning of any power discoms and they should be managed as ‘public utilities’.
“The OERC and the Odisha government should take into consideration the fact that learning from failures of privatisation of power sector in Odisha, most other States have not opted for it till now,” Mr Patnaik said.
He criticised the Odisha government for tolerating the abysmal performance as well as financial irregularities of the discoms. According to him, auctioning leads to corruption and irregularities. Originally licenses had been granted to BSES to manage Southco, Nesco and Wesco. The BSES had been later taken over by the Reliance group. Although the Reliance Infrastructure had no direct link or MoU with the State government, yet it continued to manage power discoms in Odisha earning profit, alleged the CPI (M) later.
Mr Patnaik on behalf of the CPI (M) had filed an FIR in a Berhampur police station against Reliance Infrastructure in 2013 alleging criminal negligence in managing power distribution after the Phailin cyclone and failure to restore power to the cyclone-affected in time.
Urges the State government to stop auctioning of any power discoms and manage them as ‘public utilities’
