The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Konaseema project: probe ordered

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 28, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Konaseema project: probe ordered

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JULY 27. The Government has accepted a demand by the ruling party and its supporters in the Assembly for a CBI probe into alleged special favours shown to the Konaseema Power Project and identify the "Big Boss" to whom the promoters paid Rs. 3 crores as part of bribe.

The Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, conceded the demand after a marathon debate in the House on Tuesday. The Congress members who pressed for the probe felt that the current investigation by the CID was not adequate to deal with the case of this magnitude.

`No revenge on Naidu'

Dr. Reddy said while reopening the project's power purchase agreement, his Government was not taking revenge on anybody, much less his predecessor, N. Chandrababu Naidu, but was only trying to reduce burden on power consumers and protect the larger interests of the State.

He said private plants allowed by the previous regime were robbing people claiming Rs. 200 crores extra yearly based on faulty PPAs under which the fixed cost was 170 paise per unit compared to 90 paise of Vjjeswaram gas-based joint venture. This had been aptly pointed out by the CAG for successive years but the Chandrababu Naidu Government ignored the advice. If the PPAs of the four new projects — Konaseema, GVK expansion, Gauthami and Vemagiri — were to be allowed in the present form, the exchequer would have to shell down Rs. 1,100 crores annually. "The State is sitting virtually on a volcano," he said.

Braving interruption by the TD deputy leader, N. Janardhan Reddy, the Chief Minister said Konnaseema, which joined with Oakwell later, could manage gas allocation without a licence and at a time when the GAIL and ONGC ran short of the gas, and the joint firm secured favourable PPA changing the terms several times after greasing the palms of the "Big Boss".

YSR's charge

The Chief Minister highlighted how the Telugu Desam had marginalised the Andhra Pradesh Genco, which was rated as the best in the field with a high PLF, "to encourage private parties". As against this, his Government was sincere, he said, announcing that the licence of the 520-MW BPL plant at Ramagundam was cancelled and the project was handed over to Genco. He rebutted Mr. Naidu's criticism of the appointment of P. Abraham on the four-member committee on PPAs, saying that he was a Dalit expert in the power sector having served the Maharashtra State Electricity Board as Chairman and as Secretary to the Telugu Desam strongman S. Venugopalachary when the latter was Power Minister at the Centre.

The Finance Minister, K. Rosaiah, cited various lapses committed to get the favourable PPA, and said the Telugu Desam benches should not be shy while others looked to Mr. Naidu in reference to the "Big Boss". He stated that the PPA, if unchecked, would allow Rs. 167.4 crores as extra fixed cost, and spoke of Rs. 36 crores paid by Transco to LVS plant even without getting a single unit.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh