Justice L. Narasimha Reddy, who is heading the judicial commission constituted by the Revanth Reddy government to go into allegations on irregularities in power purchase agreements during BRS regime, has issued notices to BRS chief and former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
The Commission was set up to investigate the procedure followed by the previous government in the case of construction of Yadadri and Bhadradri power station and Chhattisgarh power purchase agreement. Justice Narasimha Reddy stated that 25 people including KCR, senior civil servants Arvind, SK Joshi, Suresh Chanda and Ajay Mishra have been given notices in this matter.
KCR asked for time till July 30 to give an explanation on this matter but he said that he was ordered to give an explanation by June 15. It was clarified that if the explanation given to the notices is not satisfactory, then the inquiry should be brought before the commission.
Earlier, during his enquiry he questioned officials, isn’t public money being wasted due to construction and procurement without following the competitive bidding system and not inviting tenders?
Suresh Chanda, who served as the Principal Secretary of the Energy Department during the previous BRS government, and the then CMD of Genco-Transco, Devulapalli Prabhakara Rao, were called to the commission’s office and questioned on various key points.
The commission questioned the necessity of awarding the Yadadri Power Station directly to BHEL without inviting actual tenders. Any project undertaken by the government must invite tenders in the competitive bidding system and the rules are to be allotted to the company that comes forward to do the work at the lowest price, he argued.
Justice Narasimha Reddy said that though BHEL is a central government undertaking, it will be revealed whether it can supply at lower prices or not only if tenders are called. It seems that the Commission has asked how to know whether the allocation will result in additional financial burden or not.
Former CMD Prabhakara Rao replied and explained that it was allotted to BHEL as decided by the then state government and Chhattisgarh electricity was also bought as per the agreement made by Telangana government with that state government.
It is reported that Prabhakar Rao has explained that supply from other states is possible only if there is a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and that he has first agreed with the Chhattisgarh government and taken the National Power Corridor nod for supply.