The BJP on Saturday demanded that the State Government cancel the tender process initiated for handing over power distribution responsibility to the India Power Company and invite a fresh tender to select an efficient company.
“The State Government has adopted a tender process for power distribution only to favour the India Power Company. The tender should be cancelled and invited again so than many efficient and reputed firms can participate in the process,” demanded BJP State secretary Dr Lekhashree Samantsinghar at a Press meet here.
Alleging that the State Government has completely failed in providing uninterrupted quality power to people, Samantsinghar said the State Government had attempted to privatise the power sector in the past. In 1998, the BSCS had taken over three agencies and the American company AES one agency engaged in power distribution. The ASE quit the State in two years due to inefficiency of the State Government. Two more attempts, one in 2005 and another in 2016, were made to privatise the power sector. During the current year, the State Government has selected the India Power Company and the Tata Power for providing power services through them.
Samantsinghar again alleged that the State Government couldn’t execute the Sobhan Kanungo Committee report for reforming the power sector. The Government took 10 years to cancel the BSCS contact and has not yet collected dues ofRs 400 crore from the ASE Company.
She said big power firms are not coming to Odisha as the AT and C losses are highest (40 per cent) in the State. She too slammed that power tariff in Odisha is more compared to Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. While consumers in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are paying Rs1.50 and Rs1.45 per unit of power, respectively, Odisha consumers are being charged Rs2.50 per unit, she said.