SAD (Taksali) demands inquiry by a sitting High court Judge into power sector crisis
Chandigarh, February 19, 2020 : Shiromani Akali Dal Taksali has demanded inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into power sector crisis.
In a statement here today, former Assembly Deputy Speaker and Senior Vice President of the party Birdevinder Singh said that the insatiable and the most corrupt and incompetent tangle; consisting of Politicians, Bureaucrats and top Engineers of the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. is seemingly responsible for the bankruptcy and collapse of the Power Sector in Punjab. He said that the top bureaucratic hierarchy of both the CMOs; led by Parkash Singh Badal and Capt. Amarinder Singh cannot escape their responsibility for the collapse of the power sector. He said that Sukhbir Singh Badal as Deputy Chief Minister was the main handler as agent provocateur and clandestinely negotiates to strike almost all the deals of the power sector to purchase thermal power from the private companies at highly exorbitant rates. He said that the role of the members of the SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) should also be put under scanner to know if they have also compromised the interests of the state at any stage.
Mr. Birdevinder Singh questioned Why the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. has lost the case in the Supreme Court while winning before all the appellate authorities prior to the appeal in apex court ? and quipped, ‘this is a million dollar question?’
He said that Capt. Amarinder Singh has committed on record that he will table the White Paper in Punjab Legislative Assembly on the nitty-gritty of all the PPA ( Power Purchase Agreements) signed by the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. ; after the approval of the State Government. He further said that it is surprising that to see how Punjab Advocate General Mr. Atul Nanda could feigns ignorance and abdicate responsibility for the State, losing the legal battle in the case of coal washing charges in the Supreme Court and thus imposing the liability of Rs 2,800 Crore on the Cash-strapped power corporation ? He said that the judgment was passed by the Supreme Court bench of Justice Rohington Fali Nariman and Justice Syrya Kant on August 7, taking up a contempt petition filed by L&T (Larsen & Toubro) against the Punjab Government and PSPCL.
The SAD Taksali leader asked if the Punjab Advocate General Mr. Atul Nanda can just explain to the millions of innocent consumers of Punjab, that if there is a contempt petition against the State in the apex court; then what is the expected statutory role and obligation of the top heavy AG office in all probabilities? Then how could he escape responsibility for the collateral financial penalties to the State and its people as result of the colossal failure of the AG, for not arguing the case in the court of Law; intelligently and efficiently? Unfortunately the decision of the Supreme Court will essentially lead to higher power generation cost that will resultantly cause an exorbitantly higher power tariff which will approximately amount to Rs. 2,800 Crore having cascading effect on the poor consumers of the State.
He said that it’s atrocious that the power consumers of Punjab are being made to pay the heavy price for the adulterated inefficiency and deliberate skullduggery of the IAS officers who failed to vet the PPA, properly with medical precision. Why did the Punjab bureaucrats and the then PSPCL management remained ostensibly silent on the pre-bid scrutiny of the PPA and why did they not thoroughly examined all the questions raised by the company with correlation to its ultimate collateral impact on the consumers of Punjab, for times to come ?
He asked the the Chief Minister of Punjab, Capt. Amarinder Singh to come clean in all the murky deals of the power sector if he is above the board and Immediately appoint a commission of enquiry; to probe all the murky deals of the Power Sector in Punjab since 1997 onward either headed by the sitting high court Judge or by the retired Supreme Court Judge to enquire in to all the PPAs signed by the State Government and also the reasons for switching over to Private Sector for thermal power, intentionally abandoning the hydroelectric power generation in the State in preference to thermal power. Let this commission be assigned the responsibility to prepare the transparent ‘White Paper’ also on the collapse of the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. And this could eventually be tabled before the State legislature. Such a White Paper would be free of insalubrious manipulations and deceitful suppression of facts.