Jaipur, Aug 5 (IANS): Rajasthan Energy Minister Hiralal Nagar on Monday said that the power corporations have incurred a debt of Rs 1,39, 200 crore due to the mismanagement of the Ashok Gehlot government.

He said that the BJP government repaid the debt burden of Rs 62,400 crore of power companies under the Uday Yojana from 2013 to 2018 and in five years these companies were made debt-free and were brought to a position of financial profit of Rs 2,607 crore.

However, from 2019-2023, due to the mismanagement of the Congress government, the loss of power companies again increased to 1,39,200 crores.

He said that the Gehlot government also pushed the distribution companies into a debt of 88, 700 crores and due to not being able to repay the loan on time Rs 300 crore has been paid only as a penalty.

“In such a situation, the people of the state have to pay the price of the mismanagement of the Congress government in the form of fuel surcharge,” the minister during a press conference.

He said that the Congress government borrowed electricity from other states through banking, which the BJP government had to return in the summer season.

Nagar said that during the Congress government, the power plants of the state kept yearning for coal, adding that despite the Congress government in Chhattisgarh, the Gehlot government could not even start mining from the allotted coal block on time.

He said that expensive coal was purchased for power generation in the state which was of poor quality.

“Due to the high ash content in the coal purchased at high rates by the previous Congress government, the units of the production corporation were shut down repeatedly. Thermal power plants of the state were able to produce only 50 per cent of their capacity due to the purchase of inferior coal,” he said.

He said that the BJP government is committed to making the state self-reliant in the energy sector, adding that the government has signed MoUs worth 1 lakh 60 thousand crores with central public sector undertakings in seven months.

“This will produce 31825 MW of electricity in Rajasthan. We have also invited tariff-based tenders for power plants of 11200 MW and are moving towards bringing various renewable energy and pump storage-based projects of 2,000 to 2,500 MW capacity on the ground in Rajasthan,” he said.