This is an article by veteran journalist Mr.Kuldip Nayar published in a magazine COVERT.Mr. M J Akbar is the Editor of this magazine.This article shows seriousness of the issue raised by us.

Leaders & Misleaders  | Kuldip Nayar

 

TIME TO UNCOVER THE DVC SCAM

 

Scandals and scams are so common in India that the disclosure of one more scam is not going to make any difference. Yet, they must be brought to light because such scandals shock the gullible and give heart to the whistle-blowers that all is not lost. We have many examples where scandals have been publicised but the Government has not taken any action. 

I am narrating the facts of what may be called the “Damodar Valley Corporation [DVC] scam”. DVC is one of the largest power generation centres in the country. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had hailed it as one of India’s new temples. The scandal took shape in 2006, on the day the Government of India signed an agreement [Power Purchase Agreement] with the DVC to supply 5,200 MW power for the Commonwealth Games of Delhi in 2010. Power stations were sought to be located at six sites — Mejia, Durgapur, Koderma, Raghunathpur, Chandrapur and Bokaro Thermal. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 25,000 crores. Facts collected from the All India Power Engineers’ Federation and the DVC engineers reveal that Rs 5,000 crores have already been siphoned off.

Complaints made to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Central Vigilance Commission [CVC] were of no avail. When JD[U] president Sharad Yadav, CPI member Bhuneshwar Mehta and RJD MP Alok Mehta wrote to the Prime Minister, the CVC took note and addressed a letter to the Ministry of Power to point out that the contract of the Raghunathpur Power Project was given to a Mumbai powerhouse for Rs 4,000 crores, ignoring other bidders. Still, the DVC advanced the Mumbai powerhouse an interest free loan of Rs 354.07 crores. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India questioned the management because it found that while advancing the interest free loan, the conditions of the contract had been changed.

A perturbed Congress MP, Gurudas Kamat, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, wrote to the Prime Minister on 3 October 2008, seeking a CBI inquiry because he found that the contracts for all the projects were awarded wrongly on a single-tender basis, ignoring the interest of the Government. Kamat made allegations against Ashwin Kumar Burman, the DVC chairman at the time, who had awarded the tenders. In the meanwhile, the Mumbai powerhouse asked for an extension of one month to complete the project, that is, instead of October 2010, November 2010. The DVC agreed. This is strange. The extension does not make sense because the Commonwealth Games will be over by the time the Mumbai powerhouse makes power available. Why did the DVC make an exception in the case of this Mumbai entity when it did not agree to give an extension of even a day to the other contractors?

The Mumbai powerhouse has got yet another concession to which the Central Electricity Authority [CEA] has objected. The former has been allowed to change the quality of coal. In a letter to Burman, the CEA chief engineer has complained that “the change in the quality of coal will cause regular breakdowns during the power generation”. Adjusting the quality of coal helps this Mumbai powerhouse save a lot of money in building the boiler, but whether such a boiler will be able to produce the electricity required is yet to be determined.

THE ENTIRE PROJECT has raised many questions that the Government of India must answer. Why did the Union Power Minister at the time, Sushil Kumar Shinde decide to get power from places 1,500 km away from Delhi? Why was the DVC keen to construct new power stations for the Commonwealth Games when 70% of Jharkhand and West Bengal’s villages live in darkness? Why was this Mumbai powerhouse showered with concessions — from interest free loans to an extension of the date of completion? There is more to it than meets the eye [¼]