Corruption rules in Energy dept, alleges Eshwarappa

Demands probe by judicial commission, headed by chief justice

Opposition Leader in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa, on Saturday, alleged largescale corruption in the Energy department, especially after D K Shivakumar took over the reins of the ministry. He demanded setting up of a Judicial Commission, headed by a retired chief justice, to bring out the truth.

Addressing the media here, Eshwarappa alleged, “There are largescale irregularities in the department by assigning works through single tenders and issuing orders without inviting tenders.”

Recalling the issue raised by himself in the Council over the order to purchase 20 lakh electronic meters worth Rs 180 crore from L&T company, without inviting any tenders, Eshwarappa said, “Shivakumar himself had admitted the fault on the part of the officials and had promised to initiate inquiry by additional chief secretary of the Finance department. He had also promised to revoke the order, that has not materialised yet.”

“The scam in the Energy department is bigger than the Arkavathy denotification scam. It was further evident, when MLA K R Ramesh Kumar, who also belongs to the ruling party, smelled something fishy, on the floor of the house, regarding online tenders invited for generation of 300 MW of solar energy,” Eshwarappa said.

Lack of coordination

About the current power crisis, Eshwarappa, who was also Energy Minister in the previous BJP government in the State, blamed both blatant attitude of the government and also lack of coordination between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Energy Minister D K Shivakumar.

“Shivakumar will not ask the chief minister for anything and the latter will not provide anything without the former asking him,” said Eshwarappa in a mocking tone.

BJP projects

Earlier, when the BJP government was in power, efforts were made to improve generation of electricity by taking various initiatives. Land was purchased at Chhatisgarh, while the government signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to set up a plant at Kudgi in Vijayapura. Land was also purchased from the farmers. However, both the projects are in a limbo due to the snail pace works, alleged Eshwarappa.