Kodandaram Deposes Before Narasimha Reddy Commission

The office of the Justice Narasimha Reddy Commission, which is investigating the issue of purchase of power from the Chhattisgarh government, and the Bhadradri and Yadadri power plants, was today visited by TJS president M Kodandaram and power department official Raghu.

The commission sought details from both of them on the issues, which the two of them submitted to it.

Kodandaram spoke with the media later. He said that the Bhadradri power plant would sink if neighbouring Andhra Pradesh's Polavaram project was completed. He also alleged that former CM K Chandrashekar Rao had caused damages of hundreds of crores of rupees under the ruse of bringing Telangana out of darkness.

"In the name of development, rules have been violated. KCR's hasty decision resulted in the agreements signed with Chhattisgarh. And the Bhadradri and Yadadri thermal plants were set up without taking minimum precautions," he said.

He said that KCR's approach in the purchase of power was not correct, and that the BRS leaders were still trying to escape from their mistakes. "In financial matters, KCR took decisions that would benefit only a few people. He went ahead with his illogical decisions in the issue of the usage of technology although he knew it was a loss for the government. The law and the Constitution were trampled upon," he said.

"The government has set up the Commission as there are no items that come under the purview of the Electricity Regulatory Commission. The Commission has been asked to take criminal action against those who do not follow the rules. There are no obstacles to the Commission," he said.

Later, electricity department expert Raghu said that the two of them gave the information that they had on the Chhattisgarh agreements, and the Bhadradri and Yadradri power plant issues, to the Commission. He said that they had given a Powerpoint presentation to the Commission.

"We have given information about why the then State government did not go the competitive route and instead went the MoU route in the Chhattisgarh agreement. Electricity was also not supplied as per the Chhattisgarh PPA, and there was a loss of Rs 2,600 crore to the State government due to that," he said.

He also said that the Chhattisgarh deal had not been approved by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Raghu also said that the Yadadri and Bhadradri projects, which was supposed to be completed in three years, had not been completed even after nine years, and that the State suffered huge losses as the competitive bidding route was not followed in their construction.