The Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress government on Thursday tabled a ‘white paper’ in the Vidhan Sabha, with a focus on shortcomings in setting up of private thermal plants in the state when the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was in powerHT Correspondent, Chandigarh

The Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress government on Thursday tabled a ‘white paper’ in the Vidhan Sabha, with a focus on shortcomings in setting up of private thermal plants in the state when the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was in powerOn the second day of the two-day special session for discussion on the power purchase agreements (PPAs), the government in a nine-page document said these thermal plants caused loss to the state exchequer to the tune of crores of rupees besides burdening the consumers.

Taking part in a debate, finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal said that these thermal plants put an additional burden of ?50,000 crore and the power requirement was jacked up from 2,000 megawatt to 4,000 MW to bring in more private players by the then SAD-BJP government, ignoring the estimates given by the Centre.

“Initially, a proposal was to set up plants under the build, operate and transfer (BOT) system but were actually executed under the build, operate and own (BOO) mode by the then government, thus benefitting the private players,” he added.

The cancellation of PPAs was one of the Congress’ promises ahead of the 2017 polls.

The assembly also introduced the Punjab Energy Security Reform, Termination and Re-determination of Power Tariffs Bill, 2021, to provide remedial measure for development of the power sector. The bill has clauses of termination of PPAs and re-determination of tariff.

Similarly, the Punjab Renewable Energy Security Reform, Termination and Re-determination of Power Tariff Bill, 2021, was introduced to deal with PPAs from renewable energy sources.

The ‘white paper’ mentions that the PPAs do not have a provision to impose penalty in case the plants fails to supply power during the peak paddy season.