Chandigarh, July 10
With formation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab, the deadly power agreements made by the Badals with the private power companies would be canceled in the first cabinet meeting. Disclosing this here on Saturday, senior leader of the AAP and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema said that the cancellation of the faulty power agreements reached during the SAD-BJP government; would not only alleviate the power crisis but would also make the electricity cheaper. Cheema said that today, the traders and farmers of Punjab were suffering from power shortage and were paying due to the mistakes of PSPCL and the ruling Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government. He said that the Congress and SAD-BJP, while in power in Punjab had always robbed the people with their wrong policies.
Cheema said that if the crisis was not resolved by the government, then the AAP will take to the streets for the rights of the traders. He said that the industries had so far lost Rs 6,000 crore, due to negligence of the government. “Instead of resolving the power crisis, the government is relying on God that the demand for electricity will decrease after rain,” he added. Cheema said that the Captain government was forcing the industries to shut down until July 11. He said that the traders were already suffering from the recession and due to the government’s coercion; they will go into further losses. Cheema said that the SAD-BJP government had entered into deadly power agreements with the private power companies and now the Congress government has implemented these faulty pacts.
The AAP leader further said that due to this, Rs 20,000 crore had been given to the private power companies from the exchequer of Punjab without purchasing power. “Also, the people of Punjab have to buy the most expensive power in the country,” said Cheema. Taking a dig at Captain Amarinder Singh, the LoP said that Captain, who formed the government by promising to issue white paper on power purchase agreements, had so far failed to do so. “Due to his collusion with the Badals, Captain never took any action regarding wrong power agreements reached during the Badal government,” he asserted. Cheema said that today the government thermal plants were performing better than the private plants and it was amply clear that that government plants were being demolished only to benefit the private plants.
