The Andhra Pradesh government is contemplating to expose the irregularities of agricultural smart meters that happened during the YCP’s regime. It has decided to conduct a comprehensive audit on the purchases of bill payment for equipment made in the last five years under the purview of DISCOMs.
The YS Jaganmohan Reddy government has made proposals worth Rs 5,692 crore for the installation of smart meters and related equipment for 18.58 lakh agricultural electricity connections in the state and awarded these tenders to Jagan’s benami company Shirdi Sai Electricals.
The Chandrabbu Naidu government has received information that the contractor has made a huge profit by paying bills without clarifying the supply of ancillary equipment related to this project. It is learned that discoms paid Rs 1,828 crore to contractors who supplied ancillary equipment a few months before the elections.
Discoms have issued a second tender notice in 2022-23 for smart meters and related equipment. This was alleged that regulations were formulated benefiting contractors. As per the agreement signed with the contractor, 80 percent of the ancillary equipment should be provided within 14 days.
According to the agreement, the supply of the equipment should be confirmed by an executive engineer level officer within 14 days, and if there is delay, the contractor should pay the entire bill based on the information given by the contractor. The previous government made rules to pay the remaining 20 percent after installation of meters.
According to this, the authorities will have to examine the material supplied for smart meter connections to lakhs of motors in the agricultural sector within 14 days. It is believed that this provision was made knowing that it was not actually possible.
For the supply of ancillary equipment, as per the tenders called for the first time in 2021-22, the discoms have stipulated that 50 per cent will be billed immediately after supply, 40 per cent after installation of meters and 10 per cent after reading registration process etc. This resulted in a delay in payments to the contractor.
In view of this, the government has made changes in the tender rules called for the second time to benefit them. Rs 5,692 crores have been allocated for meters and related equipment. In this amount, Rs.3,406 crores have been allocated for setting up meters and Rs.2,286 crores for ancillary equipment. The state government will bear the subsidy amount of Rs.4,069 crores from the Centre.