Telangana Hits Back; Naidu’s Loses Face Over PPA Misadventure

AP CM Chandrababu Naidu’s 2nd stint as CM of AP started with a jinx. He was expressing his dissatisfaction over how power is allocated between AP and Telangana as part of bifurcation process and how AP lost almost 1500MW due to the approach. Of course, Telangana Electricty Engineers led by K Raghu differed over this and proved the loss, if that term can be used at all, is at 340 MW. However, despite his dissatisfaction, Naidu has been maintaining that he would try getting additional power from Centre for AP’s needs and would not seek to grab power that is already allotted to Telangana as part of  AP Re-Organization Bill. On Wednesday, he did exactly the opposite.

Upon Naidu’s direction, AP energy dept. officials met with the Electricity Regulatory Commission and requested it to repeal the power purchase agreements (PPAs) that the erstwhile AP government had entered into with power plants. By cancelling the PPAs, AP wanted to throw out the AP Reorganization Act and retain all the power produced from the thermal stations in it’s area for itself. This would immediately deprive Telangana of 460 MW it has been guaranteed as per the Act.

Getting wind of AP’s plans, the Telangana government swung into action. CM KCR convened an emergency meeting of the energy and irrigation departments to take stock of the situation and spoke to the Union Minister Of Power, who assured to look into the matter. The Telangana Chief Secretary Rajeev Sharma followed up the CM’s call with a letter to the Union Energy Secretary. The Telangana energy secretary Suresh Chanda too wrote with all the details to the Union power ministry, charging the AP government with violating the AP Reorganization Act. The ministry forwarded the letter to the Southern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (SRLDC) in Bangalore that monitors the system parameters and ensures the integrated operation of the power system grid in the southern region asking it to adhere to what was mentioned in the AP Reorganisation Act over distribution of power between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and follow the existing power purchase agreements (PPAs) as mentioned in the Act and do not change the power distribution made between AP and Telangana.

By 8 pm SRLDC responded to the Telangana government, saying the existing power allocation between the two states will continue until the power ministry takes a final decision. This effectively neutralized the AP government’s bid to reduce the power allocation to Telangana by 600 MW. “Now we will continue to receive the same amount of power from all power stations, including those located in AP,” Telangana energy secretary Suresh Chanda said. 

Minister Harish Rao deplored the AP government’s action and warned of retaliation. “The withdrawal of PPAs is unilateral, unjustified and violative of the AP Reorganization Act,” he said. “They should not forget that the AP assembly, secretariat and CM camp office are all located in the joint capital region of Hyderabad in Telangana. If we face a crisis, we will have no hesitation in stopping power to these important buildings.”

At the end of the eventful day, Chandrababu Naidu stands discredited for his double-speak and his actions unbecoming of the Statesman he and his media wants us to believe he is. On the other hand, KCR seized the opportunity with his half-baked administration, with inadequate IAS officers, hit back at the AP CM’s actions with lightening speed.

-With Input From ToI