Still need power from Dadri-II plant: Delhi govt writes to Centre

“We said we are the rightful claimants to this (power from Dadri-II) and that this is under our PPA (power purchase agreement) which is valid till 2035, and that we still require this power,” said a senior official in the Delhi government who asked not to be named.

After the Power Ministry decided to reallocate Delhi’s share from the thermal power plant at Dadri-II to Haryana in March, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited filed a petition before the Delhi High Court arguing that the move would impact power supply to the capital. The HC had then stayed the Union Ministry’s order. In an order passed earlier this month, the HC asked the Centre to examine and evaluate requirements of Delhi and Haryana, and continued its stay order till a decision is taken by the Ministry of Power.

“The HC put the ball in the Centre’s court. The Centre had a meeting where the two governments were represented by their officials. Then this letter was sent. We are waiting for the Centre’s decision,” the official said.

In a statement on April 2, the Ministry of Power said that in a letter from July 6, 2015, the Delhi government had surrendered power from 11 central generating stations including NTPC’s Dadri stage-II thermal power plant.

“As per said letter, Delhi had surrendered full 735 MW allocation permanently. Thereafter, Government of India wrote to all States on 20.11.2017, 08.05.2018, 14.11.2018, 24.12.2018 and 06.02.2019, that this power which has been surrendered by Delhi is available for reallocation. The Government of Delhi did not protest or withdraw its letter of surrender. Reallocation of power surrendered by Delhi was done to other States as and when other States requested for it,” it read.

The Delhi government official, however, said: “It’s true that it was surrendered in 2015. But thereafter we made requests stating we still require this power…”