Srinagar, May 20: The Union Power Ministry has warned six big defaulting states to clear their dues of generation companies (gencos) and Coal India Ltd (CIL) or lose access to electricity, citing the outstanding amounts as a “major cause of supply side strains.”
In separate letters to chief secretaries of J&K, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, power secretary Alok Kumar said the piling dues because of an “unprecedented inability” of their state distribution utilities (discoms) was threatening the reliability of power supply.
Kumar’s letter, a copy of which has been made available to Ziraat Times, urged J&K and other states to direct the utilities to immediately clear the outstanding dues, failing which the electricity supply to the states “might get severely affected”.
“Lack of adherence to basic payment discipline by the Utilities is not only causing supply side problems in generation of electricity, but is also adversely affecting new investment in the sector. Public utilities have higher responsibility to be ideal paymasters and upholders of Contract laws of the country and that repeated indiscretion on part of the Utilities goes against the very essence of these basic responsibilities,” his letter said.
