CAG pulls up discoms again for dues of Rs 4,911.07 crore
NEW DELHI: The CAG again pulled up discoms for long-pending outstanding dues of Rs 4,911.07 crore to be paid to the Delhi government’s power generation companies, forcing them to resort to heavy short term borrowings.
The performance audit report of CAG tabled in the Delhi Assembly on Friday stated, “Outstanding dues of Rs 4,911.07 crore recoverable from discoms adversely affected the cash flow of the Indraprastha Power Generation Company Limited (IPGCL) and Pragati Power Corporation Limited (PPCL) and the companies had to resort to heavy short term borrowings.”
The CAG observed that the Relianceowned company BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) were defaulters from October 2010 and Tata Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) from April 2014 onwards. As on 31 March 2016, an amount of Rs 4,911.07 crore (IPGCL: Rs 1,722.54 crore and PPCL: Rs 3,188.53 crore) was recoverable from them.
The CAG further observed that BRPL and BYPL have not maintained letters of credit (LC) for the Power purchase agreement since March 2011. LC established by TPDDL has already expired on 31 March 2014.
The report found that out of the planned commissioning of six power plants of 3,340 MW capacity by the end of 12th five-year plan, only 1,500 MW PPSIII, Bawana, has been commissioned while other projects have been held up due to non-availability of either gas or land.
It also highlighted “deficiencies” in capacity addition programmes, excess consumption of fuel, non-achievement of generation targets and plant load factor norms, by the two power generation companies during the period 2011-12 to 2015-16.
The deficiencies were owing to less scheduling of power, unplanned major shutdowns and delays in repair and maintenance, it said.
The operational performance of the power plants was “sub optimal”. Higher Gross Station Heat Rate of plants than the norms resulted in consumption of excess fuel worth Rs 125.92 crore, CAG report noticed.
The Finance Audit report of CAG pointed to loss of interest and blockage of funds due to “delay” in disposal of scrap and “lack of coordination” in procurement of transformers and commission of associated bays by Delhi Transco Ltd. It also mentioned blocking of Rs 29.97 crore of funds and interest loss of Rs 2.52 crore due to “avoidable” payment to Pension Trust on account of TDS instead of claiming it from discoms.
Undertaking of major overhauling of Unit 2 of Rajghat Power House without incorporating any action plan to comply with norms of Delhi Pollution Control Committee resulted in the plant lying idle and “unfruitful” expenditure of Rs 15.09 crore, it added.