The electricity department during Edappadi Palaniswami’s tenure as chief minister did not harm the supplyers for a long time, who failed to start deliveries on time, causing a loss of Rs 828 crore to the state exchequer, a CAG report said. The report revealed.
The report, tabled in the state assembly on Thursday, was an awaited document which is expected to expose the irregularities committed during the previous AIADMK regime. DMK’s IT-wing had started dashing hopes of placing the report on the table.
For the year ending March 2018, the Palaniswami government bought costlier power when it could go for cheaper sources, and signed contracts with eight suppliers that did not start deliveries for the first two years of the deal period. The report said that for this alone there was a loss of Rs 712 crore.
In one instance, the report said, the power department fell short of supply and was procured from an expensive source, causing an expenditure of Rs 117 crore and not claiming any damages, which amounted to Rs 24 crore. , from two trunt suppliers .
The Tamil Nadu Electricity Department also faced huge escalation in the cost of delayed projects. The projects to be undertaken by the Central Generating Stations were pushed ahead of the targeted deadline, leading to an increase in cost of Rs 2381 crore, while the purchase of additional quantities resulted in an avoidable expenditure of Rs 2,099 crore.
Palaniswami’s close aide was P Thangamani, the power minister, who had earlier taken over from Natham Viswanathan when J Jayalalithaa was the chief minister.
The CAG report also pointed out other irregularities such as over-purchase of freebies and weak action on inter-linking of rivers.
read all Breaking Newshandjob today’s fresh news and coronavirus news Here
.