HC comes to rescue as TG stopped from power bids

Hyderabad: The National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) on Thursday prevented Telangana power utilities from taking part in power purchase auction at the National Power Exchanges because of the state’s failure to pay its dues for the dedicated power corridor.

The state government, however, got a stay order from the Telangana High Court against restrictions as the issue is still pending with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission for adjudication.

The issue relates to an MoU inked by the Telangana government during the BRS regime with the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited for a dedicated power corridor from Chhattisgarh to Telangana to transmit 1,000 MW power from Chhattisgarh. The issue has been turning out to be a problem for the current Congress government in Telangana.

Though the Telangana government cancelled its plan, Power Grid insisted that the Telangana government pay up `261 crore regardless of whether it used the dedicated corridor or not. The Telangana government, however, claimed that Power Grid had not laid dedicated lines for Telangana.

According to Telangana Electricity Joint Action Committee chairman Kancherla Raghu, the previous BRS government had entered into an agreement with the Chhattisgarh government to purchase 1,000 MW power from Marwah Power Plant, even though there was no clarity on when the plant would be ready or when it would start the power generation or fuel it would use.