VIJAYAWADA: Union Minister for Power RK Singh has informed that the Centre is taking steps to collect more than Rs 6,000 crore from the Telangana State government towards payment of electricity dues to Andhra Pradesh.
Responding to the power dues issue raised by YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, the Union Minister said the AP government-supplied power to Telangana post bifurcation as per the directions of the Centre.
The amount that the Telangana government is due to AP towards clearing the power charges is adjudicated to be more than Rs 6,000 after consultations among the officials of the Union Ministry of Power, AP and TS. A methodology will be followed to collect the dues from the Telangana government and the Ministry of Power is in consultations with the Ministry of Law and also the Ministry of Finance and take a decision soon, he said.
While informing that there was no response from the Telangana government on payment of the electricity dues even after several rounds of negotiations, Vijayasai Reddy sought to know whether the amount could be adjusted from the Central share of the pool of State taxes. The Union Minister informed that they are also in the process of requesting the Reserve Bank of India to deduct the power dues from the funds to be given to the Telangana government towards the share of State taxes.