Ex-minister smells scam in Una solar power project

Former minister and BJP leader Vikram Thakur, while addressing a press conference in Dharamsala, accused the government of its involvement in a scam linked to Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation.

Further elaborating on this issue, he made a specific reference to a 32 MW solar power plant inaugurated at Pekhuwala in Una district on April 15 by the Chief Minister, at a cost of Rs 220 crore. A similar solar power project with installed capacity of 35 MW was commissioned in Gujarat for just Rs 144 crore, he said. Terming it as serious financial irregularity, he said Himachal had spent Rs 76 crore more for a project with 3 MW less. The cost of the Pekhuwala plant per megawatt comes to around Rs 6.84 crore, which is very high compared to other states. All this, he said, clearly shows that corruption and irregularities have taken place on a large scale in the project.

Harikesh Meena, Managing Director, HP Power Corporation while talking to The Tribune said, ‘All procedures have been followed but since allrgations have been raised, we will probe the matter further.”

Thakur also pinpointed some technical fault in the project. He said that the Pekhuwala plant was set up at the wrong site, due to which the plant is able to run at only 50 pc capacity due to heavy rains.

Vikram Thakur further said that the government had taken a loan of Rs 500 crore from the World Bank for green energy projects, from which 5 different projects could be set up. But, this entire amount according to him was invested in only one project in Una.

Thakur also talked about the penalty of Rs 5 crore imposed on the state by World Bank due to delay in 5 hydel projects in Chamba. Thakur said an official deliberately did not sign the power purchase agreements, due to which HP had to buy expensive electricity. Besides, important projects like Devikothi, Hale, Saikothi and Saikothi-2 had not been completed yet, causing huge financial loss to the state, he said.

Sandip Kumar, Managing Director, HPSEB said, “In June, the state government had formulated the HP Electricity Management Centre which was entrusted with power purchase agreements, but recently, it was reallocated to HPSEB.’