PANAJI
Power Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavlikar on Monday said the arbitration over the Reliance IPP has cost the State over Rs 500 crore even as he sought to blame the then Congress government for agreeing to a naphta-based power plant.
Dhavlikar said, the disagreement between the State and the private power project was the variable of the cost of naphta and the dollar value fluctuation which eventually was referred to an arbitration proceeding.
Leader of the Opposition, Yuri Alemao sprung to his feet to point out that Dhavlikar himself was part of multiple Congress-led government through his career but the minister insisted he wasn't when the decision to set up the Reliance power plant was taken.
Sardesai, also butted in to challenge the minister to take action against those involved in the decision-making related to the private power plant.
The power purchase agreement was signed with the then Reliance and Salgaocar joint-venture back in the mid-1990s during the tenure of the Pratapsing Rane government in which current Transport and Industries Minister Mauvin Godinho was the power minister.
