Chennai: Despite Tamil Nadu government’s reluctance to join the Centre’s Uday debt restructuring scheme for electricity distribution companies, Union power minister Piyush Goyal has made a fresh appeal to the state saying it could save Rs 22,500 crore discom’s debt in next three years.
BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan also urged the state government to sign the Uday (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) scheme for the benefit of Tangedco. “I only feel very sad for the people of Tamil Nadu, because Uday (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) will save '22,400 crore of discoms’ debt in the next three years. Tamil Nadu has an accumulated debt of '68,000 crore and I see no reason why people of the State should be denied the benefit of this saving,” he told reporters in New Delhi on Monday.
The Union minister’s fresh appeal came in the wake of the recent union cabinet decision to extend deadline till March 31, 2017, the date for joining Uday, which has been signed by 18 States and one union territory so far. Uday envisages taking over 75 per cent of discoms' cumulative debt. States would issue loans against the debt at prevailing market rates. The balance 25 per cent would be issued as sovereign backed bonds by discoms.
The scheme also envisages access to cheaper coal, modernising transformers to cut distribution losses, as well as a provision to revise tariffs every quarter.
However, Tangedco, one of the discom which has highest accumulated losses, refused to join the scheme due to stringent conditions, which includes revision of tariff every quarter. A senior government official said the state was not against the Uday scheme but it wants certain changes to be made to it. The centre has not replied to TN’s demands yet, the official said.
The official, pointing to the Chief Minister's letter to Prime minister in this regard, said the Tamil Nadu government will takeover Rs 17,500 crore of loans of Tangedco if additional borrowing towards principal repayment and interest servicing on account of discom debt take over is provided over and above the normal borrowing limit by relaxing FRBM norms for 15 years. For implementing UDAY, Jayalalithaa had also said that the state government be allowed to float 15-year bonds with five-year moratorium and floating interest rate of not more than 20 basis points.
She also asked the Centre to provide 25 per cent of the taken over debt as grant similar to the assistance provided in the Financial Restructuring Programme of 2012.
