By IANS
Raipur : Chhattisgarh’s main opposition Congress Monday set up a panel to probe alleged irregularities in a 500 MW thermal power plant in the state that stopped production hours after its much-hyped inauguration this month.
Congress legislator and former minister Bhupesh Baghel has been appointed convenor of the probe panel, which also includes Congress legislators and leaders. It will look into the “corruption” in the power plant at Korba, 220 km from here, and submit report to the party in 15 days.
“Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB) chairman Rajib Ranjan has masterminded corruption running into millions of rupees as a power plant that was dedicated to the state at energy city Korba Aug 17 stopped generation within hours of its activation,” Congress spokesman Ramesh Varlyani told IANS.
“It is too much. The CSEB chairman has crossed all limits. We want to know why CSEB paid Rs.2,400 crore (Rs.24 billion) to Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for installation of the Korba East 500 mw (250×2) power plant because a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for the same project with BHEL during the Congress regime in September 2003 for just Rs.1,740 crore (Rs.17.40 billion),” the Congress leader alleged.
“Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in December 2003, the CSEB has set new records in corruption. We see at least a Rs.600 crore (Rs.6 billion) scam in the Korba East thermal power project for the BJP government has shown undue haste in inviting party president Rajnath Singh Aug 17 to dedicate the plant that was actually not completed cent percent and finally it stopped generation within hours,” Varlyani said.
“Congress state president Charandas Mahant and Mahendra Karma, leader of the opposition in the state assembly, have made clear Sunday that CSEB chairman Ranjan would be arrested for his role in the scams if the Congress comes to power in the assembly polls due next year,” he added.
Meanwhile, a CSEB official clarified: “The plant had developed some technical snag in the boiler unit. Technicians and experts are looking into the problem. The plant will now take at least 30-45 days to resume production at its full strength.”