As Nagarjunasagar row ends, focus shifts to Krishnapatnam power generation facility
Hyderabad: With the row over Nagarjunasagar water having ended, albeit temporarily, the focus has now shifted to power sharing between AP and Telangana.
The tussle erupted after the COD of the Krishnapatnam super thermal power plant (2x800MW) and also the Hinduja power plant (2x520 mw).
Telangana expects 862 MW from Krishnapatnam and 560 MW from Hinduja after commencement of operation of stage I and II of both the units. It had demanded its share of 53.89 per cent according to the Reorganisation Act but AP ruled out giving a single watt saying that these two are not part of the PPA mechanism.
AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the other day in Warangal, had offered to talk on giving excess power that is available in AP to Telangana.
Read: Water sharing row: KCR, Chandrababu Babu bury the hatchet
Jagadish Reddy, the power minister of Telangana, scoffed at the offer saying TS is not going to AP with a begging bowl. “It is our legitimate right as per the Act. Let them honour the Act that was passed by Parliament,” he said. “There is no question of going or speaking to them. We asked for our share and they have said ‘no’. So, let the matter be settled at the Central government level or in courts,” he added.
AP's stand has created heartburn among some of the Discom and TS Transco officials. “We wonder why Krishnapatnam generation has been stopped at this crucial summer demand. To score some points, they (AP government) are troubling the common people. This is not fair,” said J. Srinivasa Reddy, director (operations) of TSSPDCL.
AP too does not have any plans to dilute its stand for sharing Krishnapatnam power. “On Krishnapatnam, we made our stand pretty clear on a number of occasions and we will not backtrack from it. The PPA has no validity and the APERC too has not taken it into cognizance in the past,” Parakala Prabhakar, media advisor to the AP government said.
The Telangana government has already shot off a letter to CEA, Union power ministry and SRLMC on the Krishnaptnam issue. A petition too may be filed in Supreme Court soon, government sources said.
