The Telangana government estimates that the state exchequer may have suffered a loss of up to Rs 6,000 crores because of what they allege were irregularities in the power purchase agreements drawn up by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi government.
After being issued a notice by a Commission of Inquiry set up to probe suspected irregularities, former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had said no investigation could be ordered into a decision of the Electricity Regulatory Commission. He had also questioned the neutrality of former Justice Narasimha Reddy who is heading the probe panel.
On Tuesday, documents were made available to the media to show that the power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Chhattisgarh had not been ratified and sanctioned by the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC).
Mr Rao, popularly known as KCR, has been critical of the Justice Narasimha Reddy Commission of Inquiry, even calling for the former chief justice of Patna High Court’s recusal. Labelling the commission unlawful, he has argued that it lacks the authority to investigate PPAs and issues related to power plant construction once the TSERC has approved them.
The officials have, however, clarified that although the agreement with Chhattisgarh was operational by the end of 2017, the power supply was only to the extent of 1,000 MW, which meant Telangana had to purchase additional power from the market, incurring an extra cost of Rs 2,083 crore between 2017 and 2022.
“The previous government claimed to have paid Rs 3.9 per unit for power, but the actual cost was Rs 5.64 per unit, including other expenses. Between 2017 and 2022, Telangana purchased 17,996 million units for Rs 7,719 crore. The government claimed it had paid Rs 1,081 crore to Chhattisgarh for power, but the transmission charge for delivering the power was Rs 1,362 crore. Considering all these costs, the per unit expenditure was Rs 5.64, which is Rs 3,110 crore over the agreed price of Rs 3.9 per unit,” a senior official explained.
KCR, who played a pivotal role in the movement for a separate Telangana, became its first chief minister after its creation in 2014 and remained in the seat till last year, when his Bharat Rashtra Samithi was handed a comprehensive defeat by the Congress, which won 64 of the state’s 119 Assembly seats. That number went up to 65 after a recent bypoll.
