Sukhbir dares Punjab CM to cancel power purchase pacts

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal here on Wednesday dared Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to cancel the power purchase agreements (PPAs) with private plants.

"Punjab and the interests of Punjabis are paramount to the SAD. In case there is anything wrong in the PPAs they should be cancelled. In fact, it's strange why this was not done since three years," Sukhbir said.

"The entire PPA and how it was drafted under the leadership of Manmohan Singh should be probe," he said.

Sukhbir said simultaneously the SAD demanded an independent probe into the Rs 1,400 crore undue benefit given to private thermal plant managements and an additional Rs 1,100 crore benefit was expected to be given on account of coal washing charges, falsely claimed by them.

He said the Congress government didn't pursue the case against release of coal washing charges to private plants appropriately in the Supreme Court.

"This is a case of match-fixing. Because of this underhand deal with the private plants, the state will have to pay Rs 2,500 crore to them. During the SAD-BJP government the case was properly pursued and the private plants' contention was rejected by the PSERC and APTEL," he said.

He said in the second case the Congress government's petition for review of the Rs 1,602 crore dispute was rejected by the high court because it didn't challenge the award of the tribunal dismissing its application for two and a half years.

"This inexplicable delay has given an undue benefit to Eastern Minerals and Trading Agency (EMTA) also seems to be a result of match-fixing. Both scams should be probed by an independent agency and the latest power tariff increase should be taken back pending inquiry," the SAD chief said.

( With inputs from IANS )