KCR claims on power supply are a bundle of lies: Uttam

Hyderabad : Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has described the claims of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on power supply position as a bundle of lies.

Summarising the power presentation on energy sector made by Leader of Opposition in Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir and TPCC Chief Spokesperson Dr. Sravan Dasoju at Indira Bhavan on Wednesday, Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the Chief Minister of misleading the people with wrong statistics. He pointed that the total installed production capacity is being show as 14138 MW in 2017 from 6574 MW in 2014. He said that the government has included the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and the energy being purchased from private parties. He said that 1200 MW coal based power plant at Jeypore, 600 MW Bhupalpally and Hydro  power plants at Jurala and Pulichintala were sanctioned, designed and construction reached advanced stage during Congress regime only. He reiterated that not even one power plant was started and not a single unit was generated after KCR became Chief Minister.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the 4x270 MW Bhadradari power plant would become a forever burden on people of Telangana due to its obsolete sub-critical technology. He said every year, hundreds of crores of rupees would be required for its maintenance. He also pointed out that the Chief Minister had assured in Assembly in 2014 that the plant would be ready within two years. However, he said even now there are no signs of completion of this project.

The TPCC chief strongly objected to the publication of advertisement by State Government in newspapers of other languages across the country. Calling it a criminal waste of public money, he said who would bear the burden of completely avoidable publicity. 

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that buying power from Chattisgarh would prove too costly for Telangana State. As against the availability of power for Rs. 3.50-4 per unit, power is being purchased from Chattisgarh for Rs. 5.50-6 per unit. He also questioned the TRS Government for drop in the efficiency of TS GENCO. While the GENCO had a Plant Load Factor (PLF) of 85% during Congress regime, it has come down to 69% now. He said that production from GENCO was deliberately being reduced to facilitate purchase from private parties.

Ridiculing KCR for taking credit for Telangana turning power surplus State, he asked whether the Chief Minister would also take credit for 25 other States becoming energy surplus which includes Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerela. He said it is a historical fact that the Congress Governments took a slew of measures to take out the entire country from huge power deficit to energy surplus. Presently, 26 out of 29 States in the country are power surplus. With a capacity of mere 2300 MW in 1951, the country is now producing nearly 3 lakh MW of power. This was made possible only due to the foresight of Congress leadership.

Earlier, Shabbir Ali and Sravan gave a detailed presentation on the actual status of energy sector in Telangana. They presented facts and statistics pertaining to power projects and power supply position across the country.