Dhaka: There has been tension in the relations between New Delhi and Dhaka ever since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from power in Bangladesh. After the ouster of former PM Hasina, a big crime was also committed against the Hindus of Bangladesh. Now the same Bangladesh has been taught such a lesson by the Adani Group that it cannot stop crying. A move by the Adani Group has plunged most of the cities of Bangladesh into darkness. The matter is related to electricity payment. Bangladesh has not yet paid a large amount of electricity bill to the Adani Group. After this, this step has been taken. 

Let us tell you that Adani Power Jharkhand Limited (APJL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of power company Adani Power, has reduced its power supply to Bangladesh by half due to outstanding bills of $ 846 million. Due to this, power supply to many cities of Bangladesh has been disrupted. According to a report published in the newspaper 'Daily Star' on Friday, data from Power Grid Bangladesh PLC showed that the power plant of Adani Group had reduced the supply on Thursday night.

Shortage of more than 1600 MW

According to media reports, Bangladesh reported a power shortage of more than 1,600 MW on the night between Thursday and Friday. This is because the plant with a capacity of about 1,496 MW is now producing only 700 MW of electricity from one unit. Earlier, Adani Company had written a letter to the Energy Secretary of Bangladesh requesting that Bangladesh Electricity Development Board (PDB) be asked to pay the outstanding amount by October 30. The Adani Group company had said in a letter written on October 27 that if the outstanding bills are not paid, it will be forced to take remedial steps under the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) by suspending power supply on October 31.

Know what is the matter

The company said that PDB has neither disbursed the loan facility of $170 million from Bangladesh Agriculture Bank nor paid the outstanding amount of $846 million. The newspaper quoted a PDB official as saying that a part of the previous dues was paid earlier, but since July APJL has been charging more than the previous months. He said that PDB is paying about $18 million every week, while the fee is more than $22 million. This is the reason for the outstanding payment increasing again.

Regarding the additional payment, the official said that when the PDB raised questions about the price of coal in February last year, a supplementary agreement was signed. In that, the Adani Group company was bound to keep prices lower than the rates charged by other coal-based power plants. The report says that after the completion of the one-year supplementary deal, Adani Power has again started charging as per the PPA.