Centre conspiring to stop electricity sale to Telangana: Minister

Hyderabad, March 31:  Telangana's Energy Minister G. Jagadish Reddy on Thursday alleged that some leaders at the Centre were conspiring against Telangana by threatening power companies not to sell power to the state.

He told reporters that at a time when Telangana is trying to buy power to meet the growing demand in view of summer, some top leaders at the Centre were making phone calls to various power companies and threatening them not to sell power to the state.

The minister said by threatening companies not to supply power to Telangana, the Centre was not only harming the interests of the state but of the entire country.

Reddy also claimed that the Centre also directed financial institutions like the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) not to release loans to Telangana power projects.

He pointed out that the state has taken up various augmentation programmes like setting up of new sub-stations, transformers and LT and HT lines with an estimated cost of around Rs 35,000 crore. This was planned to provide uninterrupted power to all sectors, even if the demand touched 17,000 MW.

"When we are taking these measures to augment the power sector, the Centre has asked the PFC and the REC not to release the amounts. The financial institutions are not releasing the money, even though the state has already entered into an agreement with them for loans," he said.

The minister condemned the Centre's discrimination against Telangana. He said instead of encouraging a state which is leading in per capita power consumption, the Centre was showing bias.

He said the state would take measures to secure loans as per the agreements entered into with PFC and REC.

The minister was confident that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao would take all necessary steps to face the Centre's conspiracies and protect the farmers and other consumers.

The peak power demand in Telangana has crossed 14,000 MW due to big surge in consumption in view of severe heat wave conditions prevailing in the state.

The peak demand touched 14,160 MW on March 29, the highest since Telangana became a separate state in 2014.