The Hindu : Cong. will scrap PPAs if it comes to power: YSR

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 27, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Cong. will scrap PPAs if it comes to power: YSR

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD Feb. 26. The Congress will cancel the power purchase agreements signed by APTransco with five independent power producers (IPPs) in the event of its return to power after the next Assembly elections.

This was stated by the Leader of the Opposition, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, today after the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, turned down the strident demand by the Congress in the House for cancellation or re-negotiation of PPAs for short gestation power projects.

Speaking to reporters, the CLP leader said the huge savings accruing from cancellation of the PPAs would make the proposition of free power supply to farmers highly feasible. The Congress remained committed to its promise of free supply for agriculture, he added.

Dr. Reddy said the Treasury Benches had failed to come up with a convincing explanation to his question about the 54 paise difference in the unit cost of power purchased from the Simhadri unit of NTPC and the IPPs.

Instead of giving a proper reply, the Chief Minister and TDP members had indulged in hurling baseless allegations against him without accepting his offer to face an inquiry.

The CLP leader alleged that the panel Speaker, M. V. Krishna Rao, had acted in `an undemocratic manner' by denying the Congress members an opportunity to register their protest against the Government's reply.

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