Keralam is purchasing electricity at a significantly higher rate after the previous LDF government scrapped a long-term power purchase agreement, Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here, Joseph said the state was currently buying power at Rs 14.50 per unit, compared with Rs 4.29 per unit under the scrapped agreement.
He said the current procurement was from the Himachal Pradesh government and involved no private parties, ruling out the possibility of corruption in the transaction.
“It is a government-to-government transaction without the involvement of any private parties,” the minister said.
Joseph also said the opposition had raised no objections to the matter in the Assembly. He attributed the state's ongoing power crisis to decisions taken by the previous administration, claiming that people were aware of the reasons behind the situation.
The minister clarified that no decision had been taken on a proposed electricity tariff hike.
In his capacity as Environment Minister, Joseph said he had moved a resolution in the Assembly urging the Centre to accept Keralam's revised proposal to exclude 8,590.69 square kilometres spread across 98 revenue villages from the Western Ghats Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA).
The resolution was passed by the House, he said, adding that the opposition had not raised objections during the Assembly proceedings.
Joseph, however, criticised the opposition for holding protests in Idukki and Pathanamthitta over the ESA issue despite not raising concerns in the House.
“But, subsequently, protests were held by the opposition in Idukki and Pathanamthitta, despite having nothing negative to say about the government on the ESA situation,” he said.