Former Minister and senior BJD MlA Surjya Narayan Patro on Wednesday warned the BJD Government to keep power distribution companies under leash so that the humiliating poll debacle faced by the Congress and the BJP in Delhi can be averted here. Patro said the Reliance distribution company in Delhi caused poll debacle for both the Congress and the BJP in New Delhi.
“The distribution companies showed 40 per cent loss in their accounts to impose a Rs4,300 crore burden on consumers of Odisha. The move was rejected by the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) and the matter reached the Tribunal. Kalpakkam, the head of the tribunal, accepted the version of the distribution companies and asked the OERC to compensate the loss through a hefty tariff hike just a day before his retirement. Congress party got washed away in Delhi due to its favour to Reliance and Tata. The same thing happened to the BJP.
The BJD Government therefore should become cautious before it is too late and the discoms take the Government down,” said Patro. Senior BJD MlA Amar Prasad Satpathy too supported Patro and said the CAG should audit the accounts of distribution companies to establish the real transmission loss.
Patro’s advice came after sharp criticism of leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra over the tariff issue. Mishra had earlier demanded a CAG audit of the finances of power companies to verify their claims of losses. Raising a question in the Zero Hour, Mishra questioned the motive of the Government in supporting power companies.
“I would like to know if the Government will get the power distribution companies audited by the CAG. The companies are claiming huge losses and the losses are passed on to the consumers illegally. The amount of loss as per their calculations is not correct. Hence, I would ask the Government to stop collecting the money or stop the tariff hike until the CAG report is received. I would specifically like to know if the Government is prepared to drive Reliance out of Odisha and take action against it. I hope the Government will answer these questions within 48 hours,” said Mishra to mediapersons.