Hyderabad: K. Chandrashekar Rao, BRS president and former chief minister, was served notice by the Justice Narasimha Reddy judicial commission, seeking a response on the alleged irregularities in power purchase agreements (PPAs) made during the BRS government tenure from 2014 to 2023.
The commission sought the response before June 15 but Rao responded that he would be unable to appear till July 30. Incidentally, the commission has a shorter deadline.
Justice Narasimha Reddy said that the agreements had been made without calling tenders. So far, notices have been given to 25 officials and non-officials.
The Revanth Reddy government had appointed the commission in March to inquire into the financial and other irregularities while entering into PPAs with Chhattisgarh and the construction of the Bhadradri and Yadadri thermal power plants. The PPAs were signed with the Chhattisgarh government to purchase power due to Telangana’s shortage of electricity after the state was created, but there were allegations of irregularities for long.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, on the floor of the House, had said that the previous BRS government had entered into PPAs with Chhattisgarh for 1,000 MW power supply at a higher cost, without calling tenders. This had cost the Telangana government a burden of `1,362 crore.
The previous BRS government also signed an agreement with BHEL to establish the Yadadri thermal power project. The company used the expired sub-critical technology and it caused the government to face huge losses, the Chief Minister had said.
Stating that the BRS had not disclosed details with regard to the agreements, Revanth Reddy had alleged that corruption worth thousands of crores had taken place in the Bhadradri power project. Revanth Reddy had stated in the Assembly that the earlier BRS government had spent `9.7 crore per mega watt for the construction of infrastructure, while Jharkhand had paid `5.5 crore. He claimed that as a result of escalation of costs, the government suffered a loss of `4,538 crore at the Bhadradri plant and `9,384 crore in Yadadri power plant.
The White Paper released by the Revanth Reddy government had stated that the power distribution companies (discoms) had accumulated losses of `62,461 crore as on March 31, 2023, and a debt burden of `81,516 crore as on October 31, 2023, due to the lopsided approach by the BRS government.
D. Prabakhar Rao, former chairman and managing director of the Telangana Genco, and former special chief secretary (energy) Suresh Chandra appeared before the commission on Monday and gave their statements, Justice Narasimha Reddy said. Former chief secretary S.K. Joshi and former energy secretary Arvind Kumar met the commission on Tuesday.
He said the commission had spoken to Transco and Genco chief Syed Ali Murtuza Rizvi. Not only officials, we have been collecting information from prominent personalities, Justice Narasimha Reddy said.
