Jagadish Reddy counters white paper; says power sector assets increased
He rubbished the claims of the State government that the power sector was in losses and said the previous government had repaid half of the loans obtained.
Hyderabad: Countering the State government’s white paper on the power sector, former Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy said the assets of the power sector had increased manifold after the BRS came to power in Telangana. He rubbished the claims of the State government that the power sector was in losses and said the previous government had repaid half of the loans obtained.
Participating in a short discussion on the white paper of the State government on the power sector in the Assembly on Thursday, Jagadish Reddy pointed out that Telangana was the only State in the country which supplied power round-the-clock to consumers of all sectors. “This is not my personal claim. NITI Aayog announced this in its State Energy and Climate Index. This could be achieved only due to timely action of the previous BRS government. We obtained loans, but created more assets. In the process, we also ensured improved power supply to people of all sectors in the State,” he said.
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Excluding the debts amounting to around Rs.22,000 crore carried forward from erstwhile Andhra Pradesh following the State bifurcation, the former Minister said the BRS had repaid half of the loans obtained during its tenure. If the BRS refrained from taking courageous decisions or loans, he said Telangana would not have been as prosperous as it was at present.
Jagadish Reddy said on June 2, 2014, the assets of power companies were Rs.44,438 crore and the corresponding debt was Rs.22,423 crore.
“Now those debts have risen to Rs.81,016 crore, but the value of assets too have increased to Rs.1,37,570 crore. There is no loss to due to the increase in debts as assets too have increased,” he explained, citing the white paper.
Explaining about how Telangana managed to provide 24×7 power supply during the BRS rule, Jagadish Reddy reminded the pathetic conditions that prevailed in the State soon after formation. “Telangana was staring at a power crisis with no guarantee of restoration for hours together. Thus, students studied with candles at night, businessmen depended on generators and invertors to run businesses, farmers spent sleepless nights to water their crops and industrialists staged protests for adequate power supply,” he said.
To overcome these challenges, Jagadish Reddy said the BRS government decided to purchase electricity from other States and connected the North-South grids via Chhattisgarh. Power supply and distribution systems were strengthened. “We first brought 24 hours electricity to the home and commercial sector with the available system. The same was done to the industrial sector. After boosting the electricity supply and distribution system in one year, arrangements were made to provide six hours of electricity to agriculture. Then, it was increased to nine and within two years, we were able to provide 24-hour electricity to the farmers,” he said.
To achieve this, the former Minister stated that the previous government had no option but to upgrade the power supply network and also enter into power purchase agreements which would not have been possible without obtaining loans. He pointed out several discrepancies in the claims of Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, Ministers Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and D Sridhar Babu in their attempts to accuse the previous BRS government of ruining the power sector.
“The Ministers are resorting to political allegations that there was huge corruption, but there was no 24-hour power supply. In sharp contrast to their allegations, the white paper on power sector explains how average power supply in agriculture sector improved from six hours to 19.22 hours. It also explains how power distribution network including sub-stations, transformers and power lines, was improved and assets of power utilities increased, under the BRS regime,” he pointed out.
He also wanted the government to spell out their plan of action in extending 24×7 power supply to all sectors as promised during the polls. All this should be delivered without taking any loans as the Congress was finding fault with the BRS for obtaining loans, he challenged.
