Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has sought a provision for quarterly revision of electricity tariffs to offset fuel price changes before the state government can join the Centre’s scheme to revive financially stressed electricity distribution utilities.
Under the Centre’s scheme – the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana or UDAY – States take over 75 per cent of the electricity distribution utilities’ debt and pay it back by issuing bonds.
Jayalalithaa in her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that Tamil Nadu government will takeover ₹17,500 crore of loans of Tangedco if additional borrowing towards principal repayment and interest servicing on account of discom debt take over is provided over and above the normal borrowing limit by relaxing FRBM norms for 15 years.
This was Jayalalithaa’s first visit to the national capital after her election victory. Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambidurai, Special Advisor Sheela Balakrishnan and Chief Secretary Rama Mohan Rao accompanied her to the Prime Minister’s residence. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister presented a 32-page memorandum to the Prime Minister, which touches upon 29 issues of interest to the state.
For implementing UDAY, Jayalalithaa also sought that the State government be allowed to float 15-year bonds with five-year moratorium and floating interest rate of not more than 20 basis points. She also asked the Centre to provide 25 per cent of the taken over debt as grant similar to the assistance provided in the Financial Restructuring Programme of 2012.
She stated in her memorandum that the UDAY scheme would be difficult to implement without these essential modifications.
Elaborating on the issues touched upon in the memorandum, a statement from the Tamil Nadu government stated, “The issues raised in the Memorandum included Inter-State Water Resources Issues, specifically the Formation of Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee, Tamil Nadu’s concerns about the Mekedatu Scheme of Karnataka, Restoration of Water Level to FRL of 152 ft in the Mullai Periyar Dam, Inter-linking of Rivers, funding for the Athikadavu – Avinashi Scheme.”
Jayalalithaa also sought compensation for Tamil Nadu for the adverse treatment by the Fourteenth Finance Commission and early release of the pending Thirteenth Finance Commission grants.
She also asked the Prime Minister to consider a reallignment of the Kochi-Kootanad-Mangaluru-Bengaluru gas pipeline project of GAIL (India) Ltd stating that the present proposed alignment would cause irreparable damage to agricultural property of thousands of farmers in seven districts of Tamil Nadu.
Jayalalithaa asked the Prime Minister to set up a special task force to look into all the issues raised in the memorandum and ensure it speedy clearance.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister was also critical of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test stating that it would be direct infringement on the rights of the State and would cause grave injustice to the students of Tamil Nadu.