The Government yesterday dismissed as " silly and baseless" Congress opposition charge of irregularities and loose-ends in the power purchase agreements (PPAs) it had signed with Private Power Developers (PPDs) in Andhra Pradesh.
"The reduction in fixed charges that we have forced on the PPDs has no parallel in the country. In the case of one power developer, the benefit to the state as a result of reduction in fixed costs is as much as Rs 639 crore in a 15-year period since the power rate has been reduced from Rs 1.22 a unit to Rs 0.96 per unit", energy minister K Subbarayudu told mediapersons on Sunday evening.
The controversy was sparked off following the government's decision to show the PPAs to legislators belonging to the opposition parties in the chambers of the energy minister.
The promise to take opposition legislators into confidence on the terms of the PPAs was made by the Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, in the state Assembly during the recently concluded budget session. In pursuance of this promise, six opposition legislators, led by the secretary of the Congress Legislature Party, M V Mysoora Reddy, scrutinised nine of the 12 short gestation period project PPAs in the minister's chambers for six hours on Friday.
Mysoora Reddy and two other legislators later alleged that there were several irregularities in the PPAs with names of co-partners left blank in some, non levy of penalty for delay in execution of projects as per the terms of the PPAs etc.
Alleging that once the 12 short gestation projects go into generation, the Aptransco would automatically get liquidated as it would not be able to pay the high energy charges granted to these units, they alleged and demanded that the agreements be put on Internet for technologists and experts.
