A report by the auditor general’s office has revealed
that in the first two years of the agreement, the state has already borne a
loss of Rs489cr. In the coming 18 years, the UPPCL will suffer additional
losses of more than Rs4,858 cr.
The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) and
other power workers’ unions have been agitating against the contract signed
with Torrent during the Mayawati regime under which power supply in Agra was
privatised from April 1, 2010. Deputy auditor general PK Mittal has based his
latest report on the statistics available from April 1,
2010 to February 2012.
“We have told the state government numerous times that
Torrent is fleecing the UPPCL. We have also written a number of times to the
Centre. But all our complaints seem to fall on deaf ears,” said Shailendra
Dube, secretary general of AIPEF which has been demanding cancellation of the
agreement.
In 2010-11, UPPCL granted undue favour of about Rs145cr
to TPL by way of supplying additional energy. As per the agreement, additional
energy supplied to the franchisee in Agra was to be charged at bulk purchase
rates which came to Rs5.72 per unit while UPPCL charged only
Rs1.80 per unit for about 255MU additional energy. The
additional energy should have been charged at Rs5.72 per unit. The loss to
UPPCL works out to about Rs145cr which, the AIPEF said, should be realised from
TPL.
Besides, UPPCL supplied about 2,157MU electricity to TPL
in 2010-11 at the rate of Rs1.80 per unit while its own cost was Rs3.17 per
unit.
This means UPPCL lost Rs295cr by way of supplying
electricity at a cheaper rate. Thus, only in the first year of this franchise,
UPPCL incurred a loss of Rs440 cr. “This is not at all in the interest of the
state. This loss will ultimately be levelled upon common consumers by way of
tariff hike,” said Dube.
The report also notes that Torrent was given undue
favours through a supplementary agreement which gave it several advantages not
mentioned in the original contract. It also says that rules and norms were
violated to help TPL earn huge profits.
It is not only the Agra distribution franchise where
Torrent has been favoured. The Mayawati government also gave the contract for
setting up a 1,320 MW power plant in Sandila (Hardoi district) without any
tendering process. Interestingly, the MoU was signed in 2010 December-end, just
four days before the prohibition on MoUs for power plants was to become
effective.
UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, however, does not seem
to be considering a cancellation of the pact with TPL. For, recently, he was
heard saying that the power supply in Kanpur could also be handed over to
Torrent.
