Govt to probe graft in Yadadri power plant

Hyderabad: Close on the heels of announcing a judicial probe into the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme, the Congress government is all set to launch a probe into the alleged irregularities in the multi-crore Yadadri thermal power project at Damacherla village in Nalgonda district. The project was taken up by the previous BRS government at an estimated cost of Rs 30,000 crore.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had stated in the Assembly in December that there was a largescale corruption in the project as the BRS government opted for outdated subcritical technology, causing huge losses to the state exchequer running into thousands of crores of rupees. He had also announced constitution of an all-party fact-finding committee to look into the matter. The government had raised serious doubts on the delay in the completion of the project works and awarding the contract works on nomination basis without competitive bidding to some agencies, including BHEL. The thermal project taken up in 2017 has not yet been completed due to various reasons.

Now the high-level official team is preparing a report regarding the estimates that were prepared by the implementing agency TSGENCO for the construction of the power station, rates quoted by BHEL and the negotiations held between BHEL and the government regarding the prices and the total cost of the project.

The main reasons for the delay in the completion of the power project would also be probed in detail. Officials said that, according to the agreement, two units were to be completed by October 2020 and three other units were to be completed by October 2021.

The Contract agency BHEL could complete only works costing Rs 14,400 crore. The officials attributed the delay in the payment by the government as the main reason for the slow pace of the works. Pending environmental clearance from the Centre also created hurdles in the speedy completion of the works.

An official delegation of BHEL met Deputy Chief Minister and Energy Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Friday and explained the challenges facing the completion of the project during the last six years. The minister took serious note of the pending works and set a time-bound target to complete the project. The officials were instructed to complete 2 units by September 2024 and another two by December 2024 and the fifth one by May 2025.

BHEL Chairman and Managing Director Koppu Sada Sivamurthy and Director Tajinder Gupta explained to the minister that without the government support the targets cannot be achieved in view of the escalation of the project cost as the previous government had delayed payments for the last 7 years.