The opposition alleged that the government had not followed the proper procedure while framing the policy, while the government stated that the opposition had got its facts wrong.
Gujarat government and opposition sparred over the solar power policy in the assembly on Monday.
The opposition alleged that the government had not followed the proper procedure while framing the policy, while the government stated that the opposition had got its facts wrong.
During the discussion on supplementary budget demands of around Rs770 crore for the current year, leader of opposition Shaktisinh Gohil said the demand should not be accepted.
He alleged that the government had not followed the proper procedures while finalising tariff under the solar power policy.
"The state government has signed power purchase agreements with developers at a price of Rs15 per unit for a period of 25 years, without competitive bidding. The tariff is much higher than the tariff of Rs2.20 per unit at which the Centre sells solar power," he said.
Without naming chief minister Narendra Modi, Gohil alleged that the CM and his office had interfered in the process of selecting the developers. He opposed the proposal for supplementary budgetary allocation.
In response, minister of state for energy Saurabh Patel said that Gohil had not placed the true facts of the policy before the house.
He claimed the government had been totally transparent in selecting developers for setting up solar power plants, and that not a single complaint had been received.
The minister also said that Centre had fixed a price of almost Rs18 per unit, which was higher than the tariff in Gujarat. "The leader of opposition has said that the Centre is providing solar power at Rs2.20 per unit. If that is the case, we are willing to buy any quantity of power from the Centre," he said.
After Patel had ended his speech, Gohil got up to ask questions to the minister. The Speaker Ganpat Vasava asked Gohil to go ahead, but the latter was interrupted by ministers who said that Patel had spoken only as a member and not a minister, and that the questions should be addressed to finance minister Vaju Vala.
Vasava told Gohil that he could ask the questions to Vala after his speech. This angered the opposition members, who accused the ministers of pressurising the Speaker and the Speaker of bowing down to the pressure, before staging a walkout from the house.
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