Hyderabad, August 4: YSRC has demanded the Centre to immediately cancel its orders of allotting gas to Ratnagiri project from KG-basin which will further hamper the situation in the power-starved Andhra Pradesh, failing which the Party will take the agitation path besides exploring legal options.
“Diversion of natural gas, cutting into the supply to our gas-based power plants, and allocating it to Ratnagiri Power Project in Maharashtra, which has no gas linkage from KG-basin, deprives us of our needs as the state is already reeling under heavy power shortage,” Party Honorary President, YS Vijayamma has written to the Prime Minister, Dr Man Mohan Singh.
The order was issued on August 1, just before Susheel Kumar Shinde’s change in portfolio from Power to Home, allocating additional supply to a ferttilzer unit at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra at the cost of State’s interests, Vijayamma said in a two page letter, released to the press here on Saturday.
“We have written to the Prime Minister to intervene and cancel the allocation and if no action is taken we will be toe the path of agitation besides seeking legal recourse,” Nellore MP, MekapatiRajamohan Reddy and Party Advisor, DA Somayajulu said and released copy of the letter to media.
Our share according to the original agreement is that the natural resource should first be exploited with the region before selling it outside works out to 16 mmscmd (million metric standard cubic metre per day) of which we are getting only 3.56 mmscmd which has left the State high and dry.
A further cut in allocation of gas supply would cripple the power sector as the State which has an installed capacity of 2,800 MW from 10 gas based projects are running at 30 per cent of the capacity. Between 1989 and 2002 all gas-based power projects in the State have received assurance of gas supply of 16 mmscmd from the linkage committee of Central Government.
The diversion will further hamper the power generation, they said adding that besides revoking the allocation order, the Centre should assure that of the 32 mmscmd gas produced in KG basin by Reliance and other players, half of it should be given to the State.
We will raise this issue in Parliament, besides going to people and filing litigation, they said adding that the Center should honour the linkage letters, which were the basis of getting loans from financial institutions.
The Empowered Committee of Ministers (EGoM) has no right to take such arbitrary decisions and it is an unfair cut as industries in our State are closing down due to lack of power and the gas-based power projects are unable to function with full steam as we are getting only 3.56 of our share of 16 mmscmd, they said.
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