Ludhiana, November 7

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today asked the Congress government not to engage in disruptive politics at the cost of the people and challenged it to get the issue of power purchase agreements (PPAs) probed by any independent agency of its choice.

Addressing a news conference here today, party spokesperson Maheshinder Singh Grewal said the Congress government should not try to derive cheap publicity on the issue of PPAs knowing well that it was only two months ago that the industry in the state remained closed for days altogether and consumers faced massive power cuts due to closure of private thermal plants.

Asking the government not to do politics on an issue, which could harm the people, Grewal said merely passing resolutions to cancel the PPAs in the forthcoming special session of the Vidhan Sabha was a meaningless exercise.

“Vidhan Sabha neither proposed the PPAs nor ratified them. These are a contract between the Punjab Government and private companies, which have been executed on the basis of guidelines proposed and approved by the UPA government headed by then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh,” Grewal added.

The SAD leader dared Channi government to tell Punjabis if any state had arrived at any PPA with private thermal plants at rates lower than those fixed by Punjab.

“I even challenge the government to tell if it has purchased more than 100 mega watts of power at rates lower than those fixed by the PPAs,”, said Grewal. Ridiculing the state government’s intention to pass resolutions on the issue of extension the BSF jurisdiction and the three farm laws Grewal added, “The Punjab Assembly has already passed a resolution under the leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh calling for repudiation of the three farm laws. Now, another resolution is being passed on the same issue under Channi’s leadership. The government must tell Punjabis the difference between both resolutions and how they will help them.” If the government was serious about giving relief to Punjabis regarding farm laws it should issue a notification stating these would not be implemented in the state, said Grewal. — OC