The media in Tamil Nadu gloat over Jayalalitha now and then taking action against her party functionaries and ministers for their misdeeds and corruption charges. On March 20, the first page banner news in a leading English daily under the heading, “Amma cracks whip amid allegations against regime” stated, “In a bid to refurbish the party’s image ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections and send out a strong message to partymen, ADMK chief Jayalalitha has once again cracked the whip on errant leaders and functionaries. On Thursday, she expelled Sriperumbudur union chairman Kutty alias M C Venkatesan from the party following allegations that he had threatened executives of the Samsung factory in the industrial hub. Later in the evening, she expelled four more functionaries in Virudhunagar for anti-party activities. The measures came in response to a chorus of allegations by the opposition. All through the week, DMK and PMK’s senior leaders have railed against the government for “misrule” and “corruption”. Jayalalitha’s move, likened to a mini purge within the party, has shaken the rank and file. Unlike in the past, it’s not been a one-time measure. She sacked Chennai corporation councillor K Santhanam a couple of weeks ago. She also removed agriculture minister S S Krishnamurthy from the post of district secretary and subsequently dropped him from the cabinet on allegations over appointments to government posts. The crackdown is being perceived as an effort at image correction in the run-up to the assembly polls, which may be less than a year away. It also reflects realization about a sense of growing disquiet about widespread corruption in civic bodies and government departments under the present regime. Allegations of a mining scam have also weighed in on public sentiment…..”
The major problem afflicting all people from children to the aged people and all conceivable fields like agriculture, industry, services, health, education and which has not been redressed even by an iota is power shortage. There is no dearth of reports in the same media on the persisting power cut problems, not even one MW of power generated by this regime from new power projects and instead purchasing power from the private sector for exorbitant prices causing huge loss the TNEB and charges of corruption in such purchases.
There was also a report of the charge of a retired TNEB official Vairamani of irregularities to the tune of several crores in the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and loss of Rs.39,663 crore in the purchase of power from private sector violating the order of TNERC. He has asked why no action was taken against K. Gnanadesikan, who as Chairman was responsible for this, and how he was promoted as Chief Secretary. He has alleged that he was kidnapped to Andhra and tortured for fighting against TNEB scandal, but the police did not take any action and hence he would launch a stir.
Had only the media, which superficially gloated over ‘Amma taking whip against inefficiency and corruption’, pondered over such reports and tried to ‘investigate’ further they would have stumbled upon some ‘hidden agenda’. Not only the official Gnanadesikan, under whose nose all these irregularities and corruption took place in the electricity board, was promoted as Chief Secretary, the Minister of the department Natham Viswanathan commands extraordinary patronage from their ‘Amma’. Not only that his department was not changed since the ADMK assumed power in May 2011 but also he was made in charge of more ‘lucrative’ departments like ‘Prohibition and Excise department’ under which he heads the ‘Tamil Nadu Marketing State Marketing Corporation, notoriously known as ‘TASMAC’.
That notwithstanding frequent allegations of corruption to the tune of Rs.40,000 crore in the purchase of power form private companies and the State’s TN Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) taking serious note of it and prohibiting purchases at higher prices, no action was even contemplated against Viswanathan, but also he commands enormous clout with the ruling part high command. Why and how?
It probably could rank as one of the biggest loots by an IAS officer, of course in cahoots with conniving politicians, as usual. But not a whiff has been smelt by the Tamil Nadu media.
Alleging that Tamil Nadu suffered losses to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore due to delayed power projects and purchase of power from private players at exorbitant rates, a PIL filed in the Madras High Court in January this year has sought a special investigation team to probe the ‘scam’. The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh, before which the PIL of C Selvaraj came up for admission, gave four weeks for the State government and its power generation and distribution utility Tangedco to submit their response.
Selvaraj charged former TNEB chairman Gnanadesikan with creating artificial power shortage by not implementing the Electricity Act 2003 in letter and spirit. Noting that the official was at the helm of TNEB affairs for 13 years since 2001, the PIL said a group of officials prevented new projects from taking off and delayed their completion to maintain artificial power shortage in TN.
After delaying projects and stalling generation in existing units, the officials went for power purchase from private sector by spending several thousand crores of rupees, said his counsel Manikandan Vathan Chettiar on Jan 7. Criminal nexus among TNEB officials, contractors and public sector undertakings such as BHEL resulted in bribes to the tune of several hundred crores changing hands, the PIL said, adding the TNEB did not invoke statutory provisions to recover ‘wheeling charges’ from contractors for missing deadlines. The officials rigged contracts for new power projects, and simultaneously delayed their completion to facilitate power purchase from private producers, Selvaraj said. “State-owned power plants at three places were shut down intermittently to create artificial power demand so as to ensure private power purchase for eternity,” the PIL said. As against the State production cost of Rs 3 per unit, the officials doled out Rs 15 per unit of power to private producers, it said. The PIL also talked about a 15-page complaint dated March 29, 2014, disclosing “embezzlement” of Rs 24,309 crore in the wind power sector alone. No action has been taken on the matter so far, it said, adding an additional expenditure of Rs 6,000 was incurred by the state as the officers first junked electricity meters worth Rs 1,500 crore and then purchased meters worth Rs 4,500 crore.
Describing it as TN’s biggest scandal so far, the PIL sought constitution of an SIT comprising eminent citizens such as former CAG Vinod Rai to probe the scam. It also wanted the court to bring the TNEB under the control of an administrator to “curtail the continuing pillage.”
Though former Chief Minister Jayalalitha announced ‘Vision 2023’ on March 23, 2012, stating that the State would get 20,000MW electricity besides another 10,000 MW from alternative fuels and 5,000 MW from solar generation, not a single megawatt has been produced till date on all the four fronts, the PIL said. Sadly though not a single MW of extra power has been added in Jayalalitha’s tenure through any projects she launched. Whatever accretion is there is from some long-delayed projects initiated by the previous DMK government. It charged the State’s current Chief Secretary K Gnanadesikan with saddling the exchequer with a humongous loss of Rs 1 lakh crore by stalling power projects and through power purchase agreements at exorbitant rates with private power producers.
Such were the appalling nature of the allegations made in the petition, the Chief Justice felt constrained to direct the Chief Secretary to file a personal affidavit on the issues raised.The first bench headed by Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice MM Sundresh also ordered notices to the State Government and TANGEDCO on the PIL filed by a retired Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) employee, C Selvaraj, who has sought a court-monitored probe by a Special Investigation Team of the CBI.
Looks like that Gnanadesikan was not acting all on his own. There were other facilitators, in higher places, like Sheela Balakrishnan who was instrumental in making him the Chief Secretary. She stood by him right through his inept but stinkingly corrupt tenure as the Chairman and Managing Director of TANGEDCO, and then paved the way for his elevation as Chief Secretary, it is widely known.
“One cannot fathom as to why Sheela Balakrishnan lobbied so hard for Gnanadesikan, knowing how bad the situation he was in. He delayed power projects, played politics and is now facing serious corruption allegations. He is a liability to the administration,” remarks angrily a recently retired senior IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre. The ruling dispensation seems blissfully indifferent to the mounting crisis, while Sheela and her acolyte Gnanadesikan are busy making as many bucks as possible in double quick time. Even the CAG indictments have failed to make any dent in the fortunes of Gnanadesikan.
The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has in its order dated 15-09-2014 in M.P.Nos. 9,10, 13,14,16,28,53,72 and 81 of 2013 and M.P.Nos.9 & 18 of 2014 rejected the plea of TANGEDCO to regularize its high cost power purchase from private power players owing to the delay in commissioning of thermal plants by the contractors.
Only one officer has had the distinction of serving in the Board of TANGEDCO for nearly 11 years since 2001 till date, during which time TANGEDCO has actually been pushed to the brink, what with an accumulated loss of over Rs 1 lakh crore during this period. Gnanadesikan became Chairman of TANGEDCO on 01.05.2001 and held on to that position till December 2014, after which he was rewarded with the Chief Secretary’s post. It is unthinkable anywhere in the world, whether in the government or in the private sector, that such gross inefficiency should be rewarded with elevation to such a key position. And the people are penalized. It may also be interesting to note that Gnanadesikan also serves as the Vigilance Commissioner, and hence no State agency can conduct an investigation into the affairs of TANGEDCO in an impartial manner.
The demand for a CBI probe gets added support by the fact that TANGEDCO has allegedly misused and misappropriated Government of India schemes and funds taken under various heads. Any misuse or misappropriation of GoI funds, CBI can step in since the Nation wants to know how a State owned utility sector namely TANGEDCO utilised funds taken under various schemes and heads from GoI. Most of these decisions were taken when Gnanadesikan was the Board Member either as its Chairman or Finance Member in the capacity of State Finance Secretary. Hence, CBI alone can be the most competent authority to investigate this. Even if one rupee of GoI fund is misused or misappropriated, CBI can step in. It is imperative that CBI investigates this to uncover misuse or misappropriation of GoI funds and the role played by Gnanadesikan.
Now the latest disclosure about the cancellation of tenders for the 1200 MW Udangudi thermal power project has brought to light that during the ADMK regime since 2011, not even one new power project was conceived, but calculated steps were taken for delaying the existing projects as much as possible like delay in issuing tender notices, in opening the bids, in execution, deciding on the bids etc., The very fact that the no objection certificates issued by the Union Environment Ministry lapse so many times show that these delays did not happen naturally.
What is the reason for all these delays? Why Minister Viswanathan and ADMK regime refuse to order enquiry as sought by the DMK and other opposition parties? If any new power project is commissioned generating 500 MW of power, the 3000 MW power now purchased from private power generating units for Rs12 per unit will come down to 2,500 MW. If such reduction took place, the commission received for every unit of purchase will get reduced. What else could be the reason? The Tamil Nadu government purchases about 3000 MW of power from private power manufacturers every day. The cost of a unit ranges between Rs.10.50 to Rs.12. The grapevine has it that the Minister Natham R Viswanathan gets 20 paise per unit as commission and as the TANGEDCO Chairman Gnanadesikan gets 0.2 paise per unit for such power purchases. On a rough calculation Gnanadesikan makes Rs.14.40 lakhs per day and Natham makes 1.44 crore a day. Of course Jayalalitha will get a lion’s share from this.
According to the budget for 2015-16 presented by Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Mar 25, liquor sales Tasmac, a company owned by the Tamil Nadu government with exclusive privilege of conducting wholesale and retail vending of alcoholic beverages in the State, are expected to touch Rs 26,188 crore during the current financial year, and reach Rs 29,672 crore in 2015-16.
In 2005-06, the turnover of Tasmac stood just at Rs 7,335 crore. It is an open secret that the ADMK government fixes targets for sales in Tasmac.
Anyone who passes through a TASMAC outlet can see the crowd and the thriving sales. In the recent two months, the prices of IMFL liquor has gone up twice. Still, there were reports that sales on last Diwali has dipped when compared to previous year. Surprising indeed!
Barring elite shops, all the TASMAC outlets have bars attached. Sources say Natham Viswanathan has devised an innovative way to make a quick buck. Instead TASMAC placing indents to the liquor manufacturers, the distilleries will send the stocks directly to the bar and receive payment. 70% of the tax revenue to be received by the government through this sales will straight go to the Minister’s pocket. One Gopi, who is the brother-in-law of Natham Viswanathan is said to be taking care of this racket. This is being done only in select outlets. Sources in Secretariat say that the government’s Finance department is on and off raising alarms about the dip in sales of TASMAC, for it is the only cash cow for the State.
After the regime change in 2011, the Midas Golden’s market share rose to 16.62% from 7.2% during 2011. Midas Golden Distilleries was set up in 2002, just a year before Jayalalitha announced the takeover of private shops in the State. The company is owned by a relative of Jayalalitha’s confidante Sasikala. “Our company continues to face problems in Tamil Nadu where our market share dropped drastically because of ordering patterns followed by TASMAC,” said United Breweries chairman Vijay Mallya in 2013.
This is the only reason for Natham Viswanathan to get disturbed immediately after somebody alleged scandal in power purchase and delays in execution of power projects. Now this is the mystery behind Natham Viswanathan, who regularly contributes ‘tribute’ (f¥g«) to the high command, retaining the power portfolio undisturbed and also appointed as the Leader of the House in the Assembly and his facilitator Gnanadesikan appointed as Chief Secretary! (29-03-15)
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