Dharamsala: Sudhir Sharma questions formation of firm to sell surplus power

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, April 14

Sudhir Sharma, BJP candidate for the Dharamsala Assembly byelection, has raised questions over the newly formed Himachal Pradesh Electricity Management Company.

Sharma alleged here today that the Congress government had formed the company to sell the surplus power of Himachal to other states and power utilities. “Earlier, Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd (HPSEBL) used to sell the surplus power of the state. However, the newly formed Himachal Pradesh Electricity Management Company has handed over the work of the sale of surplus power, which is the biggest revenue asset of Himachal, to a private consultant. It will cause losses to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees to the state government and the HPSEBL,” he said.

He alleged, “According to the HPSEBL, Himachal sells about 5,000 million units of power that it gets as royalty from private hydropower electric projects to other states and private utilities. The state government has formed a company to sell the resource through a private consultant. Since electricity will be sold through the company in a clandestine manner, it will not be subject to an audit by state agencies. It will also cause losses to the loss-making HPSEBL.”

Sharma said, “The government has formed the company without taking the consent of the HPSEBL or permission from the state Electricity Regulatory Authority. The company has been formed in violation of the provisions of the Electricity Regulatory Act. Since Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu heads the Power Department, he is directly responsible for the losses caused to the state due to the allocation of the biggest revenue source of Himachal Pradesh to a private consultant.”

Senior HPSEBL officials said that the current Chairman of the power board had written to the government, questioning the provisions under which Himachal Pradesh Energy Management Company had been formed.

Sharma said that the Congress as part of its 10 guarantees had promised 300 units free electricity to every household in the state. However, after coming to power it had withdrawn 125 units free power that the previous BJP government was providing. “Due to the corrupt policies of the Congress government, the HPSEBL failed to pay salaries of its employees in time and paid them after they held protests,” he added.

He said that in the coming days, he would expose many other scams that had happened during the 14-month rule of the government.

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