Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday ordered a judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities in power purchases from Chhattisgarh and construction of Yadadri and Bhadradri thermal power projects by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government in the state.
Intervening during the discussion on the white paper on state power sector, presented to the assembly by deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, the chief minister readily accepted the demand of BRS legislator G Jagadish Reddy for a judicial inquiry into the alleged scams.
“We welcome the demand of Jagadish Reddy. As per his wishes, I am announcing that a judicial inquiry would be conduced into the alleged scams in the purchase of power from Chhattisgarh and also the construction of Yadadri and Bhadradri thermal power projects,” Revanth Reddy said.
Stating that never in the past did the previous BRS government had disclosed any facts on power sector situation in the state assembly.
“We are now scanning the department and disclosing the factual position to the people. The previous rulers should gracefully accept the truths,” he said.
Revanth Reddy said the previous BRS government had entered into an agreement with Chhattisgarh for purchase of 1,000 MW without even calling for tenders and this led to a huge burden of Rs 1,362 crore on the state exchequer.
“When we questioned it in the assembly, we were thrown out from the House by marshals. When an official disclosed the facts, he was shunted to a remote place,” he alleged.
Similarly, the previous BRS government had entered into an agreement with a company for adopting an outdated sub-critical technology. In Bhadradri power project, too, there were scams worth thousands of crores.
“We shall order a judicial inquiry into these three issues, as desired by Jagadish Reddy. We are also ready to constitute a fact-finding committee with members of all parties to look into the issue of providing 24X7 power supply to agriculture sector,” Revanth announced.
