Power sector steeped in corruption, allege speakers at CFL round table

Several issues plaguing the power sector, including the ‘corrupt deals’ involved in the procurement of power equipment worth thousands of crores of rupees, were discussed at the round table meeting convened by Centre for Liberty (CFL), here on Friday.

Retired IPS officer A.B. Venkateswara Rao, who is associated with CFL, flayed the successive governments led by YSRCP and the NDA alliance for continuing to favour a single supplier. He asked if the incumbent government, which had boldly announced to uproot the corrupt practices witnessed in the erstwhile regime, could take on the ‘corporate mafia’ ruling the power sector.

Recalling that various arms of the Power department were separated in a reformatory move to reduce losses, he claimed that the process had not benefited the common man in any manner. “Of the 21 lakh connections in the State, a whopping 11 lakh are under the purview of A.P. Southern Discom headquartered at Tirupati, and as such, the corporate mafia started eyeing this company”, alleged Mr. Rao.

The A.P. Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) had not corrected a single erroneous decision taken by the power generation or distribution companies in the last 25 years, he alleged.

CFL founder Chakravarthy Nalamotu said that the average citizen should be aware of the deals taking place in the power sector. He alleged that the government had favoured a company — Shirdi Sai Electricals — by allowing a meagre bank guarantee, tweaking the contract terms to eliminate smaller suppliers, buying the equipment at an exorbitant rate, relaxing the rules to inspect the quality of the purchased equipment, and finally, tolerating the deviation in quality of the goods supplied.

Meanwhile, Irrigation expert T. Lakshminarayana and farmer leader Bhavani Prasad flayed all the parties for being ‘hand in glove’ with corporate entities.

CPI State executive member A. Rama Naidu, district secretary P. Murali, CITU district secretary Kandarapu Murali, CPI(M) district secretary V. Nagaraju, CPI(ML) secretary R. Harikrishna, BSP leader P. Anjaiah also aired similar views.