Days after the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of driving Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to bankruptcy by not resolving the power utility’s financial crisis, the AAP on Thursday blamed previous SAD and Congress governments for the present fiscal mess of the PSPCL.
Addressing a Press conference, AAP’s chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal’s statements on power supply and the financial condition of the powercom reflects that he is baffled with good governance of the Mann government as all his lies got exposed before people.
“Sukhbir Singh Badal is indulging in cheap propaganda and wants to create an atmosphere of fear among the people of Punjab. He is trying to mislead people of Punjab. In fact, the previous governments have left a liability of Rs 9,020 Crore on the PSPCL. Will Sukhbir Badal dare to tell who is responsible for this,” he asked.
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Kang said the electricity bills of 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the people are coming to zero. “Not only this, the Mann government is also continuously clearing the previous dues of the PSPCL . Likewise, all necessary steps are being taken to upgrade the infrastructure and further increase the power generation,” he added.
The AAP leader said work is underway to generate 1200 MW of solar power by next year and 2300 MW by 2024. The Mann government made the coal mine, which has been closed since 2015, operational. By 2025, Punjab will get 3000 MW of power from renewable sources.
He said Badal was making such dubious statements as he is flabbergasted as to why funds are being spent on the public welfare schemes by the AAP government.
Kang said the government’s liability towards the PSPCL is Rs 3600 Crore and all the dues of PSPCL will be cleared in the next three years. He assured the farmers that the power supply during the paddy season would remain uninterrupted and there would be no shortage.
Taking a dig at Badal, Kang said that during his regime, transport and mining were patronised but now Badal cannot befool people with his misleading information or by intimidating the people of Punjab.
After the engineers’ association of PSPCL warned the state would plunge into darkness if the power utility’s current financial crisis is not resolved immediately, SAD chief had said that the AAP government was endangering the farm and industrial economy of Punjab by driving PSPCL to bankruptcy. He alleged the AAP government was denying subsidy to PSPCL and forcing it to take loans to cover under-estimated expenditure of Rs 7,000 crore.
