The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday demanded the government to come out with a white paper on power sector deals and once again reiterated that it is ready to provide evidence of “wrong-doings” if a judicial probe by a sitting High Court judge is ordered into them.
Telangana State president K. Laxman told a ‘Round table conference on the issues plaguing the power sector’ organised by the party, that they would also be soon approaching the Governor to apprise him of the various ‘irregularities’ - like paying more tariff than the market rate for purchasing power from various sources, corruption, diluting electricity regulatory commission and so on.
“We are a responsible party and we are speaking on behalf of the common people in larger interest of the State. The government will have to put the burden on citizens due to mounting losses of the power distribution companies and higher tariff due to not opting for open bidding,” he said.
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The BJP leader charged the government of having “diluted” the regulatory commission and challenged it to be more transparent with its dealings and provide the information sought if it was so sure of not resorting to anything “hanky-panky.”
In this context, Mr. Laxman clarified that his party would not like to drag officers into the debate and differed with Congress Member of Parliament Reventh Reddy’s remarks against some of them.
“In a federal set up, the Central government on its own cannot order a CBI probe unless the consent comes from the State government,” he maintained. However, the power issue would be taken up with the Central leadership and the Union Ministers concerned.
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‘No long-term strategy’
Former chief secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao, who participated in the deliberations, charged the TRS government of not having a “long term” view of the power sector and said the consequences of mismanaging the issue would lead to a vicious circle, since it is an important infrastructure backbone for all other sectors.
Another senior retired IAS officer, D. Srinivas, wanted the participants to take a critical look at the irrigation projects too considering that most of them are dependent on power for massive lift of water. Irrigation and power are interconnected and it is necessary to have a cost-benefit analysis after seeking a white paper from the government. There should be a debate on the debt-service ratio too with regard to finances, he observed.