Gujarat government indulged in corruption in power sector, alleges Congress

AHMEDABAD: Senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela today accused the BJP-led Gujarat government of indulging in "irregularities to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore in power sector" and using that money to fund the party's campaigns ahead of this year's Lok Sabha elections.

Citing a recent audit CAG report tabled in the Assembly a few weeks back, Vaghela claimed that CAG could audit only 54 out of a total 478 agreements in power sector due to shortage of time.

"Within the available time of six months, CAG could audit just 11 per cent agreements signed between private firms and the government and found undue favours and irregularities worth Rs 623 crore in those power purchase agreements (PPAs)," claimed Vaghela during a press conference today.

"This is just a tip of the iceberg. Had the CAG audited all the 478 agreements, the amount would have reached Rs 6,000 crore," Vaghela concluded doing his own mathematics by arriving at an assumption.

"Now we know how the BJP managed their election funds. Such large-scale corruption helped them bear the cost of expensive campaigns using of 3D technology," he alleged.

According to him, people of Gujarat are paying the highest electricity tariffs due to the nexus between government and private firms involved in power generation.

"To benefit the private firms, state government deliberately stalled power generation in many of the government-run plants, so that we become dependent on electricity generated by the private power plants, who are selling costly electricity and earns thousands of crores from people," he alleged.

The Congress leader said they are planning to organise a state-wide protest against the state government.

"Due to such undue favours to private firms, electricity tariffs in Gujarat are the most expensive in India. The government is also not interested in providing connections to 6 lakh farmers in the state. On August 14 and 16, we have called a meeting of social leaders from all over the state to launch a state wide agitation," he said.