West Bengal government has proposed to raise funds through issuance of bonds to clear a whopping Rs 1,246 crore outstanding dues of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), chairman and managing director of NTPC, C P Jain said here yesterday.
"West Bengal government has shown its willingness to clear its dues through securitisation of outstanding dues scheme to be finalised soon," Jain said. He added that the corporation had written a letter to the state government for early clearance of dues. NTPC's total outstanding dues towards state electricity boards (SEBs) including a surcharge of Rs 4,682.87 crore stood at Rs 12,791.22 crore on march 2000, he said.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal power minister, Mrinal Banerjee said, "Talks are going on with the centre. No final decision has been taken. I do not know how much time it (issuing bonds) will take."
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Talks went out of stream after the death of former union power minister, P R Kumarmangalam, Banerjee said, adding that with the new minister taking charge of the department, things were likely to be sorted out. The state government had already floated bonds of Rs 200 crore some time back for clearing NTPC's dues, West Bengal power minister said.
Meanwhile, NTPC sources said the corporation had written a letter to various state governments including West Bengal for clearing the dues by the end of this month, but no decision such as regulating the power to defaulting states was in the offing immediately.
Asked whether West Bengal government had received a notice from the NTPC, Banerjee said he was not aware of any such thing while pointing out that "NTPC cannot cut off the supply to West Bengal, as it is not the only state that owes to NTPC." Other states owed much bigger amount than the West Bengal government, he said, adding that "NTPC cannot discriminate."
The corporation has also offered a 25 per cent rebate on outstanding surcharge amount to those SEBs', which agreed to clear their entire dues. "We have given a concession of upto 25 per cent on surcharge to some states including Andhra Pradesh for settling dues. We are willing to consider in case of others," NTPC chief said.
Stating that NTPC would sign an agreement with Gridco, a power supply utility in Orissa, for one time clearance of total dues of Rs 840 crore by next month, Jain said Gridco would issue some bonds for the purpose. NTPC has also recently got Rs 500 crore worth bond from the Uttar Pradesh government as part payment of state's dues in the current financial year.