‘Power crisis’ continues to haunt Congress government in Punjab

Sidhu, party MP demand ‘white paper’ on Power Purchase Agreements

As the power crisis continues to haunt the Congress government in Punjab, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa has asked the government to renegotiate the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and immediately to stop what he termed “the continued organised loot of the State exchequer”. “The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) allowed the BSES, a power distribution company in Delhi, to renegotiate its Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the NTPC-Dadri power plant on July 1, 2021. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh had also successfully renegotiated signed PPAs. Why is it that concrete steps have not been taken till date to do the same in Punjab? “There has been a valid precedent and yet after four years of governing the State, the PPAs signed by the SAD-BJP government are still enforced. These agreements have caused irreparable financial burden to the State. The same officers who negotiated these anti-Punjab PPAs on behalf of the previous government are holding important positions in the present dispensation. It must be mentioned here that they can create a roadblock for any long-term change to the status quo,” said Mr. Bajwa in a statement.