Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said that the State government is closely examining the proposals sent by public sector firm NTPC for entering into an agreement on supply of 85%t power from its proposed 2,400 MW plant at Ramagundam.
Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has said that the State government is closely examining the proposals sent by the public sector firm NTPC for entering into an agreement on supply of 85% power from its proposed 2,400 MW plant at Ramagundam before giving its consent.
Participating in the discussion on demands for grants in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, the Chief Minister alleged that the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government did not give its consent for the 2,400 MW plant in the lure of ‘commissions’ through other projects. The NTPC had completed installation of 1,600 MW and sought permission for capacity addition of 2,400 MW more in line with the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act — for setting up 4,000 MW plant in Telangana.
“BRS government did not accord permission for taking up the 2,400 MW capacity addition as it will reduce scope for looting public money,” he charged. He was responding to BRS member and former Energy Minister G. Jagadishwar Reddy’s charge that the State had not responded to the letters addressed by Union Ministry as was evident from the recent claims of Union Coal Minister G. Kishan Reddy.
He refuted claims that the Congress government was sitting on the file forwarded by the Union Government for taking up the works on the next phase. As the proposed project was lying idle during the BRS’ tenure, the Congress government took it forward assuring land, water and coal linkages to the thermal power plant.
Cost per unit could rise
The NTPC was currently supplying power at ₹5.3 a unit and the cost per unit could rise to ₹8 to ₹9 a unit as the project would take another four to five years for completion. Signing an agreement at this juncture would make it mandatory for the State to buy 85% power from the project once it was completed in spite of high costs.
The NTPC could sell power generated from the project to anyone. “Signing the agreement will make it unavoidable for Telangana to bear the additional costs. The charge per unit will be determined on the basis of capital cost incurred on the project, expenditure on coal linkages and profit making it costlier,” he explained.
Moreover, the State could enter into an agreement with the NTPC in due course depending on the power requirements of the State. On the political front, Mr. Revanth Reddy faulted the BRS leadership for compromising on the State’s interests for ministerial berths in the then Congress government. “Nayini Narasimha Reddy was in charge of Kadapa when Pothireddypadu was expanded. Mr. Harish Rao was also in Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s cabinet at that point in time,” he said.
He recalled how he spoke about the need for separate Telangana in the Legislative Assembly when he was representing the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) before the formation of Telangana. “Let us get the records on how much I spoke about Telangana while in TDP and compare it with what BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao spoke about the State in the Parliament,” he said.
The Chief Minister said his government was prepared for an elaborate debate on the BRS government’s work in the assembly and said: “I will continue speaking truths and expose the previous regime as long as BRS members don’t stop their lies,” he said.
