PM Modi blames freebie culture for power sector’s losses

NEW DELHI: PM Modi on Saturday doubled down on his opposition to “votes-for-freebies” culture, flagging the mounting dues of power distribution companies (discoms) as a looming crisis.
Launching a Rs 3 lakh crore package for distribution sector reforms and a clutch of NTPC’s renewable energy projects, he pointed out that discoms owe more than Rs 1 lakh crore to generation companies as they have not received the committed subsidy, while power bills of government departments and urban local bodies remain unpaid.
He said that India’s power sector losses run into double digits while developed countries have managed to keep it to single digit.
“This means that we have been wasting lot of power and, due to this, are having to produce more than what we need to,” he said, launching a package for distribution sector reforms and a clutch of National Thermal Power Corporation Limited’s renewable energy projects.