TS, AP lock horns over clearance of power dues

Departments of the Telangana government are divided on whose responsibility it is to settle the power dues owed to AP. Officials of the financial department say that the state government has nothing to do with the matter and that the issue needs to be resolved by the power utilities of the two states. TS Transco officials, however, say that the issue needs to be resolved at the state level.

Four days ago, officials of the TS finance department went to Amaravati, the capital of AP, to discuss the settlement of funds between the two states.

They claimed that the AP government had to pay them `3,000 crore from the funds released by the Central government under centrally-sponsored schemes after the bifurcation. Officials of the AP finance department said that the Telangana government owed them `4,000 crore for the power which AP had supplied to Telangana over the past three years.

In response, the TS officials said that the state government had nothing to do with the dues owed by Telangana power utilities. They said that the matter would have to be resolved by the power utilities of the two states, without intervention from the state governments.

However, D. Prabhakar Rao, the chairman and MD of TS Transco and TS Genco, believes that the issue should be settled at the state level. In a letter to AP Genco chairman, Mr Rao said, “Telangana State Power Coordination Committee and TS Discoms are of the view that the settlement of dues between the two power utilities should be done at the state level, for a permanent and amicable solution.”

Meanwhile, AP officials are unsure about whom they should take the issue up with. A senior officer of AP says that TS officials are also confused, after the finance department and the power utilities passing the buck to the each other.