TRS government pushing State into the dark, says BJP

Telangana government has been borrowing heavily to purchase power for round-the-clock energy supply, says Nizamabad MP Aravind

TS BJP has accused the TRS government of pushing the State into “darkness” due to the whimsical policies of taking huge loans of thousands of crores to purchase power at a huge cost of about ₹10 a unit and charging the consumers with high tariff which was the highest in the country at ₹9.5 a unit.

Nizamabad Member of Parliament D. Aravind, addressing a press conference along with MLA M. Raghunandan Rao at the State office here on Thursday, contested the government’s claim of giving free power round-the-clock stating that the high cost of purchasing power without adding much to the production capacity would only burden the people with higher taxes later on.

“The 2014 TRS manifesto has promised to build 10 thermal power projects which will lead to many employment opportunities but except for one 270 MW unit of Bhadradri Thermal Power Station, there has been no development as the existing eight stations came before the regime. Yadadri Thermal Plant has become a non-starter because of no coal linkages and NGT order but there has been no response,” he said.

There have been no repairs or maintenance to the existing power stations too leading to reduced efficiency and higher pollution. The K. Chandrasekhar Rao Government has also been irresponsible in not pursuing any steps either in research or incentives to promote renewable energy like solar energy when the tide across the world is moving away from thermal power, Mr. Aravind said.

On the other hand, the BJP-led State governments have been actively promoting solar energy and the MP government has been giving 90% subsidy to the farmers to have solar pumpsets making use of the Centre’s PM ‘Kusum Yojana’ under which 35 lakh solar pumpsets have been powered across the country.

The scheme gives 60% subsidy (30% Centre - 30% State) with the farmer having to pay 40% of the cost. “But, in TS the government has given such connections to about 400 pumpsets only,” he claimed. These details were gathered by the committee led by him to expose the TRS government on various fronts. “We will study 25 sectors and present a report to the party by studying good practices in other States. It will form the basis of manifesto for next elections,” he added.