The Centre of Indian Trade Unions(CITU) on Sunday urged the Andhra Pradesh government to stop its ‘suicidal’ decision to hand over the Damodaram Sanjeevaiah Thermal Power Station (SDSTPS) at Nelaturu in SPSR Nellore district to a private player on a 25-year lease.
CITU State Secretary Ch. Narasinga Rao opined that the decision, which came close on the heels of handing over of the Gangavaram port to a logistics major, the same that acquired Krishnapatnam port, would go against the interests of the State.
The handing over of the public sector unit to private players meant power generation cost going up in the long run and power tariffs becoming unbearable for the common people. The CITU leader also demanded a probe into the alleged import of substandard coal from abroad through a private firm.
The so-called power sector reforms thrust upon States by the Centre, were “anti-people” and “pro-private players”, the CITU leader said.
Subsidised power enjoyed by farmers and other weaker sections of people would be a thing of the past due to privatisation spree of the State government at the behest of the Narendra Modi government. It was only due to the wrong policies of the State government that the AP-Genco and DISCOMs suffered losses and independent power producers raked in huge profits, he contended.
While AP-Genco generated power at a cost of ₹4.64 per unit, the State government purchased power from private players at a high price of up to ₹21 per unit, he alleged.
He said he was perplexed as to why the State government had underutilised the power generation capacity of SDSTPS by lifting only 16,430 million units after giving orders for 30,000 million units. He wondered why the State government preferred purchase of power from private players at a high cost.
All sections of people should come together for a protracted struggle to ensure continuation of the SDSTPS in the public sector. It was unfortunate that 300 people who were displaced by the project had not been provided the promised employment by the government, he added.
