Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) has plunged into unprecedented financial crisis.
The crisis is so deep that it may lead to the corporation become a defaulter in payments in some cases. In fact, the TSECL now faces uncertainty as to whether payment of salary to its employees for the month of June can be done at all. Actually, TSECL has admitted, all the internal accruals/ funds of the corporation have already been exhausted.
The liquidity crisis hit the TSECL mostly due to poor collections from the consumers including Manipur, Mizoram and NVVN for Bangladesh supplies, according to the top official of the Corporation.
In view of the serious situation and emerging financial crunch the Finance department of the TSECL rang the alarm bell and asked all the officials and employees to pull their socks up.
Sarvjit Singh Dogra, Director Finance of the TSECL issued a memorandum on Wednesday painting the gloomy picture in an unambiguous manner. (Memorandum – DF.13(183)/TSECL/FIN/2022/6989-7047 Dtd 21.06.2023)
In the memorandum under the title ‘Severe Liquidity Crisis in the Company (TSECL)’ Finance Director said, “I am afraid that if this trend (crisis) continues, we may not be able to arrange required funds in the balance days of current month and may lead to default in some urgent payments & also delay the disbursement of salary for the month of June 2023”.
The memorandum pointed out : “the company is passing through liquidity crisis mainly on account of poor collections from the consumers including Manipur, Mizoram & NVVN for Bangladesh supplies”.
It may be mentioned here that NVVN or NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam has signed agreement with Bangladesh Power Development Board for supply 160 MW power through Tripura Comilla link for 5 years.
Finance Director Dogra rued, there was ‘no visible and appreciable improvement in collections’ and that the TSECL has ‘run into a situation where all the internal accruals /funds have been exhausted in order to avoid regulation of power as per related Guidelines of Ministry of Power, Govt. of India’.
The Director added: ‘The last payments were made on 20.06.2023 in favour of NEEPCO & OTPC after consuming the internal funds and availing the loan from PFC as per the Guarantee limit given by Govt. of Tripura’.
Dogra admitted that TSECL had suffered some setbacks in reasonable collections from consumers but, he maintained, the corporation would make a ‘comeback as a team to push for more collections to avoid further worsening of company funds position’.
The Finance Director also made an ‘urgent’ appeal ‘to all concerned officials in the company to ensure healthy collections during the balance days of this month to tide over the current crisis which the company is facing’.
He then said, “the DGM (C&T) is specially requested to ensure the collections from NVVN for Bangladesh as well as from Mizoram for the supplies made to them” while ‘DGMs of the five Distribution Franchisee Divisions to ensure early collections from FEDCO and SAI Computers Pvt. Ltd’.
Alkso published in Tripura Times
