Punjab govt to target SAD over controversial power agreements

Chandigarh, January 16

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced that his government will bring out a white paper, in the monsoon session of the state Assembly, to “expose the fraud committed by the Akalis with regard to the controversial Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with private players.”

The paper will “reveal” all the documents signed by the previous SAD-BJP government in the state, as well as the power plants set up by them, which had caused undue burden on the state, the Chief Minister told media persons during an informal conversation after the Governor’s address on the first day of the two-day special session of the Punjab Assembly.

The Akalis were “slippery characters”, said Captain Amarinder, adding that after “messing” with the state’s economy through various “destructive measures”, including the PPAs, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was trying to use the issue against his government to promote their “vested political interests”.

The Chief Minister pointed out that his government had won the case on the issue in the lower court but the Supreme Court decisions went against them. The state government was fighting the case now in the apex court, he added. He had sat on a dharna against India Bulls plant when in Opposition, he recalled. The Akali government had got the Gidderbaha NTPC power project cancelled to sign an MoU with India Bulls for setting up the plant, going against the prevailing practice of inviting global tenders for power projects and also forcibly evicting farmers from their land in Gobindpura for the controversial project, he said.