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AP Transco faces financial problems
The AP Transmission Corporation has been facing financial constraints as several government departments and civic bodies have not been paying their power dues to it. The corporation is not in a position to invest in development works due to fund crunch.
Anantapur: The AP Transmission Corporation has been facing financial constraints as several government departments and civic bodies have not been paying their power dues to it. The corporation is not in a position to invest in development works due to fund crunch.
- Various government departments and civic bodies in Anantapur district have power bill dues for more than five years
- The departments and civic bodies seek waiver of the dues to some percentage
- Total dues to the AP Transco amounts to more than Rs 700 crore
Due to staggering power bill dues by multiple government departments to more than Rs.700 crores, it is unable to make new investments for development. Sources in the AP Transco say that these power bills have been accumulated for 5-10 years and nothing has changed its financial position even as the financial year is drawing to a close.
An officer in the Regional directorate of Municipalities told 'The Hans India' on condition of anonymity that unless the government waives the staggering amounts of power bills which are 5-10 years old, it will be difficult for the civic bodies to come out of their financial doldrums.
Either AP Power Regulatory Authority or the government should take a lenient view and reimburse some percentage of outstanding power bills on behalf of the corporation. Otherwise, the civic bodies are likely to slip into economic chaos. The central and state governments should take a policy decision in this regard and bail out at least weaker civic bodies on merit basis.
Under the category 1 consumers that come under low tension(LT) and high tension (HT) where individual consumers have stake of a total of Rs.22 crores; under category 2 - Rs.19 crores, category 3 - Rs.6.18 crores; category 4 - Rs.25 crores, category 5- Rs.25 crores; category 6 - Rs. 246 crores, category 7- Rs. 170 crores and category 8- Rs.1.27 crores.
The departments that have long standing dues include, Irrigation department, animal husbandry, education, medical and health, welfare departments, police, panchayath raj, rural water supply, Satya Sai water, revenue, social welfare, central government departments, state government undertakings, APSIDC and HNSS lift irrigation schemes. All these run into Rs. 136 crores under LT and Rs.208 crore under HT.
Local bodies which have dues to AP Transco include Anantapuram, Dharmavaram, Tadipatri, Guntakal, Gooty, Pamidi, Rayadurg, Kalyandurg, Hindupuram and Puttaparthy. All the 13 civic bodies owe to AP Transco a staggering Rs.456 crores. The Kia Motors gave a requirement of 2,100 kw of power every day to run its automobile unit.
The district is supplied 15.7 mw of power every day while the requirement is 10-11 million units per day. The solar power generation per day is 537.3 mw of power and wind generation 2,535 mw. Major power consumers in the government are of the view that the government can give them a settlement package based on merits of individual case.
By Ravi P Benjamin
