Why should Punjab pay for coal mismanagement by the centre ?-EAS Sarma
Bahadurjeet Singh/Rupnagar,February 15,2023
Why should Punjab pay for coal mismanagement by the centre ? writes EAS Sarma ,former power secretary to Government of India.
Sarma has written a letter to Chief Minister Punjab Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday after reading his statements in the media alleging that Punjab is being made to bear high expense of coal just to benefit Adani Group.
Addressing a meeting of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) Engineers Association in Patiala the CM had said if special trains can be allotted for ferrying paddy from state to other parts then why can’t trains be allotted to transporting coal to the state.
Sarma mentions that the cntre asking Punjab power utilities to pay for transporting coal from the State’s coal mines in the eastern region via Adani Group’s port on the west coast.
It is indeed paradoxical that the Centre should once again try to hide the fact of mismanagement on its part to ramp up railway movement of coal from coal mines in the eastern region to northern States like Punjab and shift the consequent additional cost burden to the recipient states and its consumers.
Sarma said that centre has directed Punjab to lift coal from mines allotted to the Punjab and transport it, not directly, but via a rail-cum-sea detour and ask the State to receive it at an Adani Group’s port on the west coast.He suggests that the affected states should claim compensation for it from the Centre , on the basis of the cost differential between direct rail movement and the detour via the Adani port.
It is yet another ploy on the part of the centre to benefit the Adani port, at the cost of the electricity consumers. The centre issuing such unilateral directions to state power utilities is an affront to the spirit of federalism, being taken up collectively by all like-minded states at the national level,he said.
Why should Punjab pay for coal mismanagement by the centre ?-EAS Sarma. He urges the Punjab chief minister to contact its counterpart states and take up these issues together at the national level. These are crucial issues that need to be raised in the interest of upholding the spirit of federalism, which seems to have come under a serious threat these days.
(royalpatiala.in News)
