No plan to discontinue power supply to Bangladesh, says Tripura minister

Tripura Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath on Tuesday said the state-owned utility TSECL has no plan to discontinue electricity supply to Bangladesh on account of pending dues exceeding Rs 150 crore.

According to a bilateral power purchase agreement with the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) in 2010, the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd is supposed to supply 100 MW of power to the neighbouring country, he said. Currently, Bangladesh is receiving on average 90 MW of power, the minister said. 

"Right now, there is no shortage of power in Tripura and TSECL is supplying on average 90 MW of power to the neighbouring country. There is no plan to discontinue the supply to Bangladesh and such a measure will be considered only when Tripura runs into severe shortage of power. We continue to supply electricity to Bangladesh even though there is a huge pending bill," he told the reporters.

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TSECL Managing Director Debasish Sarkar said the BPDB's pending bill has already crossed Rs 150 crore. "We are in touch with the Bangladesh authority to get the dues cleared at the earliest. I had a meeting with BPDB's chairman in Dhaka and discussed the matter. It appears that they are having some financial issues leading to delay in payment," he said. Sarkar said TSECL has restricted the power supply to Bangladesh because it purchases electricity from outside Tripura with a price of Rs 12-13 per unit during peak demand periods. 

"It makes no sense to buy power at an exorbitant price and sell it to a neighbour. That's' why TSECL has restricted power supply to Bangladesh", he added.