Hyderabad: Things are moving in the right direction for Telangana to get Power For All (PFA) status as state energy officials are gearing up for a key meeting with the Central power ministry on August 4.
TSSPDCL CMD G. Raghuma Reddy has already had a round of talks with Delhi officials and he has given a broad idea of the present availability, requirement, the steps that have to be taken and the plans of the government to meet challenges, sources said. This meeting will be followed up by Aravind Kumar, the principal secretary of energy on Tuesday, sources said.
A 11-member committee headed by additional secretary of power Jyothi Arora visited Hyderabad on March 29 and sought a detailed project report which was sent by the government later. Ms Arora reportedly made some suggestions in the DPR which are now being worked out and an updated version will be submitted soon, sources said.
During the last visit, state energy officials reportedly sought a funding of Rs 15,000 crore for strengthening infrastructure. The committee then indicated that funding will be made depending on project-wise evaluation.
An official said that an agreement regarding inclusion of PFA between the Union ministry and the Telangana government is likely to happen in August. “So, if everything goes according to plan, an MoU will be signed in New Delhi later this month,” senior officials said. We asked the Centre to allocate Rs 6,200 crore under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyothi programme to strengthen energy infrastructure and supply quality power to all villages in the state, he added.
The TS government has listed its priorities which includes not just 24x7 power supply, but also nine hours of uninterrupted po-wer supply to agricultural pum-psets. New projects like Water Grid, Metro Rail and infrastructural pr-ojects in Hy-derabad req-uire more po-wer, it said.
“We have started enhancing generation in a big way. A 4,000 MW plant at Dama-rcharla, 2x600 MW at Jaipur, 1,080 MW at Man-ugugu and 2,400 MW at Ramagundam are among the new projects that are on course. Till we become self reliant we need the help of Central agencies,” the TS government told the Union power ministry. Strengthening of both inter-state and intra-state transmission and distribution system was the main point of discussion at Delhi meeting. Once a MoU is inked work on infra development would gain pace.
Bond payment next big issue
A fresh row has surfaced between Andhra Pradesh and TS regarding the payment of interest on power bonds issued by the Power Finance Corporation.
Telangana argues that there is no provision in the bifurcation Act that says it has to pay the interest. Moreover, it says, a year has lapsed since the formation of the state, and there is no need for it to honour any of the commitments given earlier. Taken aback, the AP energy department proposes to take the issue to the Union power ministry.
According to sources, Power Finance Corporation had issued power bonds worth Rs 5,895 crore. The government of undivided AP stood guarantee for the payment.
After bifurcation, the bonds were also bifurcated in the ratio of 59.54 per cent (Telangana) to 40.46 per cent (AP). Telangana’s share came to Rs 3,510 crore, and AP’s Rs 2,385 crore. This division was done by the board of directors of the Power Finance Corporation.
“Division of assets and liabilities shall be done on the basis of population. But that procedure was not followed in this case. If population is the basis, our share will come down further and we have paid an excess amount of Rs 142 crore. The AP government should cough up that amount,” a source in the TS power department said. Telangana wants the Centre to revisit the liabilities aspect, the source added.
A formula prepared by the board of directors of power utilites of both the states is still in the discussion stage. It has to be appoved by both the state governments and submitted to the Sheila Bhide Committee which has to ratify it. The Telangana govenrment has made it clear that till the Sheila Bhide panel ratifies the division of assets, no payment of interest will be done.
