THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Power Minister K Krishnankutty has called upon Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to make a decision regarding the reinstatement of the cancelled 465 MW Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). The state cabinet is likely to address this issue in its upcoming meeting on Wednesday. Former Power Minister M M Mani has also urged the CM to initiate an investigation into why the PPA was cancelled and who has benefited from it. Early this month the Chief Secretary-led task force had passed the buck to the cabinet on revoking the cancelled PPA.
This led the state government to take legal advice from the law department. On Tuesday, the power minister’s office confirmed to TNIE that Krishnankutty had passed a note to the Chief Minister. A senior official at the power minister’s office told TNIE that if the CM has passed the cabinet note to the Chief Secretary, then it would be circulated among the cabinet ministers and then taken up in the cabinet on Wednesday. Another alternative is that if it is not included in the agenda, it can be taken up as ‘Outside Agenda’.
During the recent state conference of the KSEB Officers’ Association in Kottayam, former power minister Mani criticised the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission’s decision to cancel the PPA. He asserted that during his tenure as power minister, he continued the 465 MW PPA, originally initiated during the UDF government’s term under then-power minister Aryadan Mohammed, as it benefitted consumers. “A probe should be announced by the LDF government on why the PPA was cancelled.
The probe should unearth what the regulatory commission would benefit from it”, said a senior CPM leader.
The Congress-led Kerala Electricity Officers’ Confederation has gone a step further by demanding a vigilance probe.
In another development, the Kerala High Court has instructed the appellate authority of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission to consider the appeal filed by the state regulatory commission within two weeks. This development offers some hope to the state government regarding the revival of the 465 MW PPA and provides a slight relief to the KSEB management in addressing the power crisis.