Though the Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had announced a bail-out package and laid down several conditions, including collection of dues by November 30, Discoms are yet to lay their hands on the money.
This was the reason why the Centre had delayed appointing a nodal bank for restructuring package. When repeated requests failed to influence the Discoms, the Centre appointed nodal banks for all other agreed states except Andhra Pradesh. When the state government intervened, the Centre appointed Syndicate Bank as the nodal agency to work out a bail-out package for the loss-making Discoms.
“After the Centre appointed nodal banks for all other participating states, we too sought one such nodal bank for our state,” said a top energy department official.
Sources in the department admitted that the Discoms showed the same amounts of dues for years in their accounts. “Without realising the money, the same amounts of dues are carried forward in their ledgers. The auditor-general raised objections to this,” sources said. “We are now looking into the objections raised by the AG,” said AP Transco managing director Hiralal Samaria.
However, the deadline for realising the dues ended on November 30. When the AG raised objections, the top officials recently convened a meeting and found that Rs 900 crore was due from panchayat raj, municipal administration and some other departments.