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MP Govt. promoted incompetent non-civil service officers to IAS key
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Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, (MPCC), has charged the Bharatiya
Janata Party ruled state government of nepotism and large....Read Full |
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Gandhinagar:
The opposition Congress in Gujarat Wednesday accused the state
government of a Rs.14,296 crore scam, claiming it had under-valued
its stake while divesting state-run Gujarat Pipavav Power Company
Ltd (GPPC).
“The government, which sold its 49 percent stake in the GPCC, had
valued its holding at just Rs.381 crore,” Leader of Opposition in
the state assembly Shaktisinh Gohil told reporters in Ahmedabad.
The GPCC is
a subsidiary of state public sector undertaking Gujarat State
Petroleum Corp (GSPC).
“It is
worth noting that the state government preferred to divest its
interests from GPPC ahead of proposed IPO of GSPC,” Gohil added.
Gohil
alleged that it was a “dishonest deal” since it values GPPC at only
about Rs.778 crore even as it is commissioning 702 MW of gas based
power generation capacity and plans to ramp up this capacity to 1050
MW subsequently.
Besides,
GPPC has been roped in by the state government to convert three of
its power plants from coal to gas and garner precious carbon credit.
Gohil said
that the “dubiousness” of the deal is evident from the fact that the
state government-promoted listed company, Gujarat Industries Power
Company Limited (GIPC), is valued at over Rs 1,500 crore. And this
despite GIPC having installed generation capacity of just 560 MW.
Interestingly, Swan Energy with 49 percent of equity in GPPC will
get rights for over 70 percent of the carbon credit as per the
agreement with the GSPC.
All this
has been offered to Swan Energy in what the opposition leader termed
as a “covert” deal without inviting competitive bids from much more
eligible entities with proven track record engaged in power sector.
Gohil also
alleged that the deal was inked in a “hush hush manner” before its
parent company made its debut at the stock markets.
“This
political decision which smacks of corruption has been done to avoid
public glare and stakeholders’ scrutiny,” he added.
“The annual
results of Swan Energy available in the public domain show that it
has suffered operating losses from 2005 to 2008, has no material
consumption in 2008 and 2007, and has material consumption of less
than an average of Rs 1 crore in 2005, 2006 and 2005, reports no
payment of salaries and wages in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 and
2008, while it has a modest outgo of Rs.12 lakh in 2009, has not
paid any excise duties from 2005 onwards but has huge ‘other
expenses’,” Gohil underlined.
“All these
indicate that the financial records of the company are nothing but
forgeries and made up,” he charged.
The leader
of the opposition also alleged that the “hithertho unknown Swan
Energy did not have the capacity to pay for 49 percent equity of the
GPPC and need to raise funds purely on the basis of windfall it
expects from the largesse bestowed by the state government through
virtual grant of free equity in one of its blue chip companies and
the huge recurring and undeserved income it will get through the
unwarranted grant of 70 percent of the carbon credits accruing to
GPPC,” he added.
Gohil
claimed this decision of the government is likely to cost the state
exchequer Rs.14,296 crore over the next 10 years.
“Besides,
Gujarat chief minister, the Chief Minister’s Office, energy
department and GSPC officials are involved in this murky operation
of giving away Gujarat’s public wealth to a private player,” he
alleged.
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