PPA case: Govt wheels moving at slow pace to pin down KCR

Hyderabad: The Telangana government would go slow in taking action on former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in the alleged irregularities in the power purchase agreements (PPAs) entered between previous BRS government and Chhattisgarh government. Though the Justice Madan Lokur Commission has submitted the report on PPA and alleged irregularities committed in the last government a month ago, the State government was moving cautiously ensuring all required documentary evidence is legally valid to take action.

Top officials said that the findings in the Commission report were under thorough study. A team of legal experts led by the State Advocate General were analysing the report before taking action. “The report is more of legal and the administrative lapses and alleged misuse of power by the KCR government that needs to be established with proper evidence”, a source said.

The Commission has reportedly found that the delay in the payments of power purchase to the Chhattisgarh government put heavy burden on the Telangana exchequer. It is learnt that more than Rs 500 crore was paid as fine and interest on the payments due to the delay. The BRS government also faced problems for issuing notices by the Power Grid for not paying a fine of Rs 250 crore for the cancellation of the development of the 1,000 MW corridor.

The Commission found fault with the BRS government for constructing the thermal power projects far away from the coal mines. The Central Electricity Authority suggested the construction of thermal projects close to the mines. The previous BRS government defied the authority’s norms and set up the Yadadri thermal power generation unit. As a result, the cost of the power generation has increased and it has put an additional burden of Rs 1,600 crore to run the project and transport coal .

Sources said that the Madan Lokur Commission also studied the impact of old technology adopted in the construction of the thermal project. “All these are being analysed by the legal experts and then only the government will come to a conclusion on the irregularities in power purchase and establishment of thermal projects with relevant evidence”. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Deputy CM and Energy Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Energy officials already held a meeting and reviewed the Commission report. The administrative lapses were found to be correct in the review meeting and they are waiting for legal opinion to take action, sources said.