AAP govt in Punjab driving PSPCL to bankruptcy by denying it subsidy: SAD's Sukhbir Singh Badal
Chandigarh, January 3: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab had endangered the farm and industrial economy by denying subsidy to PSPCL and eventually driving it to bankruptcy.
He alleged that with the government denying subsidy to the PSPCL, the latter was forced to take loan to cover under-estimated expenditure of Rs 7,000 crore. "The very existence of PSPCL as an independent corporation is at stake with control of day to day functioning being handed over to a Bangalore-based private company," said SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal.
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Terming these developments as extremely disturbing, Sukhbir Singh Badal said the situation, if allowed to continue, would lead to a catastrophe. “The mismanagement of PSPCL is leading to widespread cuts during the winter when demand is low. Since the corporation has not undertaken any exercise to cater to the increase in demand in summer, particularly during the paddy transplantation season, it could well endanger the paddy crop,” he said.
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He accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of allowing PSPCL to go into a downward spiral. Sukhbir Singh Badal said the government was denying subsidy for free power being supplied by the corporation to farmers. He said the backlog in subsidy payments due to the corporation was Rs 9,000 crore. “Besides this, the government has under estimated expenditure on power subsidy by Rs 7,500 crore. This is the reason why PSPCL is being forced to take on periodic loans with the latest loan of Rs 500 crore being taken recently,” he said.
- PTC NEWS
