Senior BJD leader demands CAG audit of Reliance-owned discoms

Senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and former minister, S N Patro today slammed the government over undue favour shown to distribution companies controlled by Reliance Infrastructure and glossing over their inefficiency.

Patro warned the ruling BJD of similar fate as was witnessed in the general election in case of Congress led combine at the Centre in 2014 and recently held Delhi assembly polls lection in case of BJP, if things are not corrected by the state government.

His diatribe brought in deep embarrassment for the treasury benches in the state assembly.

"The inefficiency in electricity distribution by Reliance and Tata owned companies toppled the UPA government at the Centre. More recently, the BJP faced a washout in the Delhi assembly since they failed to ensure proper distribution of electricity to consumers. The failure and inefficient functioning of Reliance controlled discoms can be a threat to the government here too. The government needs to be conscious on this count," said Patro who had held key portfolios like power and revenue & disaster management during his ministerial stints.

Earlier, in a special mention in the house, veteran Congress leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Narasingha Mishra upped the ante on the government for its generosity towards the Reliance Infrastructure controlled discoms.

"Dues are not being recovered from the discoms. Consumers are being forced to pay for the inefficiency of discoms. What is needed is an audit by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) into the functioning of Reliance Infra owned discoms. The consumers should not be burdened with tariff hike", Mishra said.

Joining the debate, BJD leader Amar Prasad Satapathy said, "The whole situation needs to be reviewed by the government. There is demand for CAG audit into the operations of discoms and I feel it is needed." Reliance Infrastructure managed distribution discoms- North Eastern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha Ltd (Nesco), Western Electricity Supply Company of Odisha Ltd (Wesco) and Southern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha Ltd (Southco) are grappling with high aggregate technical & commercial (AT&C) losses. Nesco has an AT&C loss of 36.52 per cent while Wesco and Southco are coping up steep AT&C loss of 40.64 per cent and 46.39 per cent by the end of 2013-14.