The 2011-12 state budget had allocated Rs1,269 crore for power, which was revised to Rs910 crore; the actual spending was only Rs790 crore on 12 major projects.
Belying the state government’s boast that Maharashtra would be free of load shedding by year end, data from the recently-tabled budget reveals that not only has the department failed to utilise the total allocations for its major power projects in the past few years, but the allocations themselves have been diminishing.
The 2011-12 state budget had allocated Rs1,269 crore for power, which was revised to Rs910 crore; the actual spending was only Rs790 crore on 12 major projects. The previous year had an allocation of Rs1,445 crore for key projects, of which the power department spent only Rs908 crore. This year’s (2012-13) budget estimate has dropped drastically to Rs900 crore.
The projects include Ratangiri Gas and Power Company (RGPPL), Khaparkheda, Paras Thermal Expansion, Uran Gas Power Project, Chandrapur Thermal Expansion, and Koradi TPS Expansion (KTPSE).
According to the data released by the NGO Socio Political Analysis and Research Centre (Spark), not a single rupee was utilised despite provisions of Rs50 crore and Rs550 crore for the RGPPL and KTPSE respectively in 2010-11.
It has also stated that the budget estimate for the current year for all the major projects is even lower than the revised estimates last year.
“The department has been continuously reducing the budget estimates for the last few years. Even after reducing it in revision, the department has continuously failed to utilise the allocation,” said Priya Khan, director, Spark.
“Though the power minister has been claiming strongly that he will keep his deadline, I doubt it, since the demand-supply gap is huge,” she said.
According to the Economic Survey of Maharashtra released two weeks ago, the gap between the demand and supply of the power in 2011-12 was 4468 MW. With the failure of the government to initiate a rise in the installed capacity of the power, the gap has barely been reduced in last few years.
Also, a government that cannot even use the funds it has been allocated cannot lead you to a load-shedding free state, said power expert Pratap Hogade. “Today, when private thermal plants are constructed at Rs 4.5 crore per MW cost, the government project need to cost at least Rs6 crore per MW,” he added.
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