Senior Telugu Desam Party leader and chairman of Public Accounts Committee Payyavula Keshav on Saturday accused YSR Congress party government in Andhra Pradesh of pushing the power-surplus state into a severe and intractable crisis.
Speaking to reporters, Keshav questioned the rationale behind chief minister Y S Jagan Reddy writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, instead of taking corrective measures to prevent the impending collapse of the power sector.
He said Jagan's letter contained total lies with regard to the coal crisis and power demand. The chief minister should explain why his government was buying power in the open market at very high prices at the expense of the state thermal plants, he said.
Keshav said that the AP-based thermal power companies stopped coal imports only after lack of payments, purchases and support from the State Government. The State could not run even the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Plant (RTPP) and the Vijayawada Thermal Power Station (VTPS) beyond 50 percent capacity.
He wondered why the chief minister linked the increased the power crisis in the state to the post-Covid power demand in Europe and China. The fact was that the power consumption in AP was going along the projected figures.
“There are no new industries and agricultural consumption is also less. The sudden attempt to project overnight increase in demand is only to divert the attention and shift blame to the Centre. Jagan cannot shirk his responsibility for the thoughtless policies that ravaged the power sector,” Kesav said.
The PAC Chairman asked why Jagan was not using his so-called good relations with the Telangana Government for coal supplies if there was really an emergency like situation of drying up stocks in a day or two.
“AP could make use of the well-established rail and logistics linkages to get supplies from the Singareni Collieries. But the chief minister’s ego and vendetta battles are only causing permanent damage to the innocent people and their future,” he said.
