Chandigarh, August 13, 2019 (Yes Punjab News)
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab chief and Member of Parliament (MP) Bhagwant Mann, said that the private thermal plants players were now resorting to arm-twisting the government/ PSPCL to recover their dues owing to the anti-people agreement signed between them and the erstwhile Badal, which it said was worrying as it would hit the people hard who were already paying expensive electricity bills, resultantly the consumers would have to pay 10 paise per unit extra as per the Supreme Court’s latest order (August 7) under which PSPCL had to pay to private thermal plants at Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo Rs 1200 cr and Rs 1800 cr (Rs 2800 cr), respectively, in the next two months or so.
In a statement issued from party headquarters on Tuesday, Mann said that Sukhbir Singh Badal had entered in expensive agreements with private players pocketing huge money by shutting down the government-run thermal plants under a well-thought-out plan, saying they had been arm-twisting the government to recover their dues.
Mann informed that the condition under which the apex court had ordered for the payment of the outstanding amount of Rs 2800 crore had been for the past 4 years. However, under the decision, the two thermal plants would receive Rs 12000 crore during the next 21 years government under the agreement .
The AAP leader said quoting the latest reports, that the AAP had been critical of the expensive power contracts (PPOs), which had been ratified by the PSPCL officials putting their stamp on what the AAP had been claiming for years now, holding the Badal government and the babus for the botch-up.
Mann demanded that the entire matter be investigated either under the watch of a sitting High Court judge or a high-powered committee of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha to bring the facts to the fore so that the common consumers were not left to bear the brunt of the faults of others.
Bhagwant Mann demanded that the Captain Amarinder Singh Government should scrap the illegal agreements with the private thermal plants sooner than later to save the common man from being fleeced.
Mann said that in addition, the Talwandi Sabo, Rajpura and Goindwal thermal plants shall have to be paid Rs 2800 crore annually against fixed charges, which would amount to Rs 70000 crore in next 25 years.
