New Delhi: Delhi Government on Monday decided to
extend financial assistance to Reliance Infrastructure-backed
discom BSES which has defaulted on payment of around Rs 3,000
crore to various power generating and transmission firms.
The decision to offer the help to the beleaguered company
was taken at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister
Sheila Dikshit.
Dikshit, however, did not give details about the
financial assistance but officials said government is likely
to infuse fresh equity to the tune of around Rs 500 crore into
the company on the condition that the discom would also infuse
the same amount. Delhi government holds 49 per cent share in
BSES.
The Chief Minister had apprised Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Union Power
Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde about the looming crisis facing
the city arising out of BSES failure to pay the dues to the
transmission and generation companies.
"We have taken a decision (to help the discom) to ensure
that power cut does not take place in the city. We had
discussed the issue with the Centre before taking the
decision," Dikshit said without elaborating.
The NTPC has threatened to cut supply of 2,000 MW of
power to BSES if it fails to pay the dues by January 7. If
NTPC stops supply of power to BSES, then it may lead to a
blackout in 70 per cent of the areas in Delhi.
The Delhi government would inform power regulator DERC
about its decision to help the cash-strapped discom tomorrow
following which the regulator will issue a formal order for
resolving the crisis.
PTI
First Published: Monday, December 26, 2011, 16:40