Power utilities: Telangana ready for settlement with AP
Hyderabad: “Telangana is ready for settlement of dispute through mutual agreement between the power utilities of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh provided the court case is withdrawn by APGENCO,” K Ramakrishna Rao, Special Chief Secretary (Finance and SR) informed the Centre on Thursday. Telangana was also categorical on any amendment to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, […]
Hyderabad: “Telangana is ready for settlement of dispute through mutual agreement between the power utilities of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh provided the court case is withdrawn by APGENCO,” K Ramakrishna Rao, Special Chief Secretary (Finance and SR) informed the Centre on Thursday. Telangana was also categorical on any amendment to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, for removal of anomalies on taxation matters after seven and half years since this would lead to endless litigations and further complicate matter that had already been settled.
Ramakrishna Rao was speaking at a video conference convened by the Joint Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to carry out the preparatory work and recommend practical ways to resolve bilateral issues between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh arising out of APRA. The MHA Joint Secretary agreed with the views of Telangana on taxation issues and decided that this was not a bilateral issue and agreed to delete it.
Five crucial issues including payment of power dues to APGENCO by TSDISCOM and division of Andhra Pradesh State Financial Corporation (APSFC) were discussed at the meeting.
On payment of power dues to APGENCO by TSDISCOM, it was informed during the meeting that the total dues which were receivable from AP to Telangana power utilities was Rs.12,532 crore after setting off dues payable to APGENCO. Against this, AP requested the Central government for settlement of Rs.3,442 crore which are payable by TSGENCO as a standalone settlement.
However, Telangana was of the view that total payable amounts relating to power dues by each State should be put together instead of piecemeal settlement. The Central government was informed about the sudden stoppage of power supply by APGENCO to Telangana after formation of the State and the efforts made by Telangana to purchase power at high rates from the market due to the unilateral cancellation of PPS entered in the combined State with Hinduja National Power Corporation, AP Power Development Corporation and Krishnapatnam Power Plant.
Telangana was deprived of low cost hydel power from Sileru hydro power project, due to which, TSDISCOMs had to procure high cost power and consequently incurred huge financial costs. If all the dues are considered such as debt servicing of Ananthapur and Kurnool districts and costs incurred due to purchase of thermal power, the Telangana utilities in fact have to receive a net amount of Rs.12,532 crore and not the other way round, Telangana pointed out.
The MHA Joint Secretary was also informed about the court case filed by APGENCO in the High Court for payment of power dues ignoring the claims of Telangana.
With respect to division of Andhra Pradesh State Financial Corporation (APSFC), it was informed that AP had unilaterally sent demerger proposals of APSFC to the Central government for approval without the consent of Telangana on the strength of the resolution passed by the Board where there are no Telangana representatives in it.
The MHA Joint Secretary was informed about the request made by Telangana government in May 2016 to reconstitute of the Board of APSFC to have equal representations for Telangana in the Board by invoking the powers of Central government under Section 71 (b) of APRA and the said request is still pending. On coming to know about AP’s unilateral action, Telangana has requested the Centre not to approve the demerger scheme of APSFC.
Further, AP went to court and obtained status quo orders against resumption of Rs.235.34 acres allotted to State Finance Corporation for violation of allocation conditions. There is one more dispute over sharing of building of SFC in Nanakramguda which is an operational unit and not headquarters office as per APRA.
The issue of bifurcation of APSFC was pending because of the above three issues including the court cases filed by AP. Hence, Telangana has taken the stand that unless court cases are withdrawn, further progress on the bifurcation of APSFC cannot be made.
Referring to division of cash balance and bank deposits, Telangana made a strong demand that the money which are due from Andhra Pradesh should be settled immediately and payment be made.
In case of central sector schemes, an amount of Rs.495.21crore is due for more than seven years. Similarly, Andhra Pradesh had agreed and given undertaking for payment of amounts on the money spent on common institutions such as High Court, Raj Bhavan etc., to a tune of Rs.315.76crore. Even the money which are accepted as the share of building and other Construction Workers Welfare Board (BOCWWB), Labour Welfare Board fund of Rs.464.39crore and resumption of Net Credit Carried Forward (NCCF) of Rs.208.24 crore is also not paid.
The MHA Joint Secretary has suggested Telangana to send details of the cash balances and bank deposits receivable from Andhra Pradesh. The issue pertaining to Cash Credit by APSCSCL and TSCSCL was also discussed.
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