Capt: state power tariff among highest in India
CHANDIGARH:
HT Correspondent

Former Punjab chief minister and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday claimed that the power tariff for industrial consumers in Punjab was among the highest in the country.

“Not only is the tariff the highest but also the state government has failed to provide adequate power supply to the industry. That is the main reason why the industry is shifting out of P unjab,“ Amarinder said.

In a statement, Amarinder said contrary to its claims of making Punjab power-surplus, the Akali-BJP government had failed to fulfil the demand of basic power requirement.

“In such a situation, how can you expect the industry to come and invest here?“ he asked.

He pointed out that due to extra duty and octroi imposed by the state government, industrial power tariff in Punjab was R5.28 per unit, while in other states it was much less: Haryana, R4.72 per unit; Himachal Pradesh, R3.61; Uttarakhand, R3.65; Maharashtra, R4.96; and Karnataka, R4.65.

The PPCC president said Gujarat was the only state where the industrial power tariff was higher than Punjab, at R5.65 per unit.

However, he said since there were no power cuts in Gujarat and the industry did not need to generate captive power, it turned out to be less than Punjab, where due to frequent cuts, the industry had to generate its own power with high input costs. Ex-CM ridicules Sukhbir's claims Capt Amarinder Singh ridiculed claims of Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal of setting up power plants for additional generation. He said of the five power projects Sukhbir was crying hoarse about, three were started during the Congress regime in the state. Amarinder said Talwandi Sabo, Goindwal Sahib and Rajpura plants were launched during his (Captain's) tenure and Sukhbir was trying to take credit for them, while in the case of other proposed thermal plants no progress had been made.