Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s announcement on June 30 that the Adani Group will be permitted to collect electricity bills for distributing electricity in Hyderabad’s Old City took many by surprise, including those in his own government. The Chief Minister also stated that 75% of the amount collected from such bills will come to the state while the remaining 25% will go to the Adani Group.
The statement came as a surprise to many, as the Telangana government does not purchase electricity from the Adani Group nor does it have an agreement for the distribution of electricity in Hyderabad’s Old City or anywhere else in the state.
The question then is why does CM Revanth Reddy want to bring in the Adani Group — almost as a loan collector?
The move is particularly suspicious as no other state has tasked a private party with just the collection of electricity bill payments. With the only announcement from the Chief Minister coming at a press meet in New Delhi, what the move means remains a mystery.
There is fear that this will soon be followed by the privatisation of the electricity sector or that the government is trying to offset money for a future deal with Adani, even in an unrelated sector.
Telangana’s principal opposition, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has dubbed this as the Congress-led government’s first step to privatise distribution companies (Discoms). They have pointed out that it is ironic that Revanth Reddy’s Congress government is eager to join hands with the Adani Group while the party’s top leader Rahul Gandhi is constantly seen accusing Prime Minister Modi of favouring Adani.
TNM reached out to the Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited’s (TSSPDCL) Chairman and Managing Director Musharraf Ali Faruqui and Telangana Energy Secretary Ronald Rose to check whether Adani Group was involved in the collection of electricity bills. Both officials said that they have received no formal communication to this effect and that electricity bills are currently being collected by the TSSPDCL, as they always have been. Faruqui also said, “Electricity is being distributed to the Old City and other areas as it always has been.”
However, the fear that privatisation is in the offing has set in.