Jaya alleges 1,000 cr coal scam in TN

The TNEB, already incurring huge financial losses amid a severe power crisis in the State, is “shelling out an additional Rs 1,000 crore every year” by importing “low-calorific coal” at high cost, the bulk of which is from a certain consortium in Indonesia that has close business links with the DMK regime here, Jayalalitha alleged in a two-page statement.

Stating that the TNEB was being used for “money laundering purposes” by the Department under the charge of the State Electricity Minister and senior DMK leader, Arcot Veerasamy, the opposition leader said she had access to information from reliable sources about the massive scam, bleeding the TNEB’s finances and indirectly of the people.

The TNEB imported more than six million tones of low-calorific value every year from Indonesia at a cost of  $120 per tonne when the value of even “high calorific value” coal from there was only  $65.

Adding shipping and freight charges, the landed cost of “high calorific coal” from Indonesia “is only $85 per tonne,” while the cost of coal if imported from South Africa was even lower, she said, adding, in rupee terms the loss worked out to Rs 1,575 per tonne of imported coal.