Kiran steps on the gas, to meet PM today
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Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy will be meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to request him to stop diversion of Reliance gas from AP to Maharashtra and to allocate additional gas to resolve the power crisis in the state.
The Chief Minister on Sunday sought an appointment with Dr Singh for the same. He will be taking the 10.30 am flight and once in New Delhi will lead a team of MPs to meet the Prime Minister and the Group of Ministers on natural gas. The MPs are already in the national capital to attend the UPA dinner ahead of the vice-presidential poll. “We are keen on meeting the Prime Minister on Monday itself,” infrastructure minister Ganta Srinivas Rao told this newspaper. The state government, however, was doubtful about the appointment in view of the Dr Singh’s brief illness.
Earlier, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy held a review meeting with the Infrastructure minister, chief secretary Minnie Mathew, principal secretary of energy M. Sahoo and other officials. He also wrote again to Dr Singh explaining how expensive it would be for the state to run the power plants on imported RLNG. While the variable cost of Reliance or ONGC gas is Rs 2.10 per unit, the same for RLNG is Rs 9.06.
While consumers across the state suffered due to power shortages, the state’s failure to prevent diversion of gas to the Ratnagiri Power Project in Dhabol, Maharashtra, took political overtones.
Several senior ministers were upset and wanted the CM to convene a special Cabinet meeting on the issue.
Mere writing on Gas won’t work, says TD
Several senior ministers were upset over the state plunging into crisis and wanted Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to convene a special Cabinet meeting to discuss the immediate as well as long-term measures to tide over the power shortage. The ministers took exception of the Chief Minister not taking them into confidence and were peeved with people targeting them over the erratic power supply wherever they were visiting. “We are afraid of going to villages,” a senior minister said.
The minister, who initially decided to write to the Chief Minister seeking a Cabinet meet, dropped the idea after Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy decided to meet Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the issue. The Telugu Desam and Left parties also came down heavily on the Chief Minister and Union petroleum minister S. Jaipal Reddy for what they called “washing off hands”. “Mere writing letters will not solve the problem,” said senior Telugu Desam leader Nama Nageswara Rao, while referring to the Chief Minister writing several letters to the Centre over the issue. Mr Nageswara Rao is the Telugu Desam Parliame-ntary Party leader.
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