Chandigarh, Aug 30 (IANS) Time and again rapping his party's government in Punjab on the knuckles for its failure to provide free power up to 300 units to the domestic consumers, state Congress President Navjot Sidhu on Monday demanded to extend the one-day Assembly session to terminate the power purchase agreements (PPAs) signed with private companies.
"Punjab government must immediately issue directions to PSERC (Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission) in public interest to revise tariff being paid to private power plants making the faulty PPAs null and void. Further calling a five-seven day Vidhan Sabha Session to bring a new legislation for termination of faulty PPAs," Sidhu tweeted.
"This will help Punjab government give 300 units of free power to all domestic consumers, including general category, decrease domestic tariff to Rs 3 per unit and Rs 5 per unit for industry, along with redressal of all outstanding bills, waiving-off the unjustifiable and exorbitant bills," he added.
The government has decided to call a special session of the Vidhan Sabha for one day on September 3 to commemorate the historic 400th Prakash Purb of Guru Tegh Bahadur.
In his earlier tweets, Sidhu had blamed the PPAs that the previous government had signed with three private thermal power plants and said till 2020 Punjab had paid Rs 5,400 crore due to faulty clauses in these agreements. It is expected to pay Rs 65,000 crore of people's money just as fixed charges.
Favouring the need to set aside the PPAs, Sidhu had said the state can purchase power from the national grid at much cheaper rates. "But these Badal-signed PPAs are acting against Punjab's public interest. Punjab may not be able to re-negotiate these PPAs due to them having legal protection from honourable courts, but there is a way forward," he had said.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday paid obeisance at the Golden temple before heading to their respective parliamentary constituencies to file their nomination papers.
A biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi can’t hit cinema halls until the last phase of polling was over on May 19 as the Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere with the Election Commission’s decision not to allow its release during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
In a court hearing on Friday, the company said that the farmers could use its seeds and sell the produce to the company on terms it already offers to other farmers in the state.
In the audio clip, the woman can be heard saying that newborn girls are sold for Rs. 2.75 lakh and "if the babies are fair and good looking, they are sold for Rs. 3 lakh."
