AGARTALA, Sept 24 � A hike in power tariff is inevitable in Tripura with State Electricity Corporation Ltd (SECL) making huge losses after abrupt increase in natural gas price, according to official sources.
However, officials of SECL did not specify by when it will come into effect. TSECL�s expenditure for natural gas has scaled up to Rs 15 crore from Rs 5.50 crore per month after hike in the gas price leading to huge revenue deficit over the past several months, said Power Minister Manik Dey. Talking to reporters at Civil Secretariat here on Saturday, he said the higher price of imported power and transmission loss ( about 32 per cent) have also contributed to swell the losses of TSECL.
According to him, the loss of the corporation has increased to Rs 96 crore during 2010-11 financial year mainly because of hike in the gas price. The expenditure of TSECL has also witnessed major increase by Rs 150 crore, of which Rs 135 crore is accountable to hike in gas price. Despite repeated appeals of the State Government, the Centre did not pay heed on reducing the gas price in spite of the fact that 90 per cent of State�s power projects depend on natural gas.
Kumar said that there was need to revamp the entire system to minimise the revenue losses. �Only hike in the power tariff will fall short to wipe out the losses by the TSECL. A comprehensive plan needs to be evolved to address the problem effectively�, he said.
Kumar also underlined the need for efficiency at the distribution level. The desired goal cannot be achieved if the distribution system is not strengthened, he added.
Meanwhile, the first unit of Palatana power project will come up on schedule by February, next year despite all obstacles. Earlier, it was scheduled for commissioning by end of December this year but the OTPC had suffered a setback when the gas turbine for the plant met with an accident on way to Palatana. Internal checking by US based General Electrical has given thumps to the turbine, Managing Director of OTPC SK Dubey, who met Power Minister Manik Dey on Friday, said.
He said the turbine for the second unit has been stranded near Tripura University, near Suryamaninagar as the by-pass at Bishalgarh was washed away by gushing water for the third time. �Efforts are on to rebuild the bypass�, he said.
