Times of India: Chennai: Saturday, February 03, 2018.
In the light
of the allegations regarding over-invoicing in the purchase of imported coal
for state power utility Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation
(Tangedco), electricity minister P Thangamani on Wednesday said coal was sourced
only through the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India, a central
PSU, and that there were no irregularities. He was responding to allegations by
Chennai-based Arappor Iyakkam that coal imported from Indonesia in 2012-2016
was significantly costlier than the market price, which caused a loss of 1700-
3025 crore to the exchequer, by toggling with the moisture specifications and
calorific value of the coal.
The
minister's statement is contradictory to the information in the public domain,
which shows that the majority of coal imported from Indonesia between 2012 and
2016 was supplied by private conglomerates like the Adani group and Chettinad
group. Replies to a query filed under the RTI Act by Arappor Iyakkam show that
in the 2012-2016 period only seven of the 19 supplies were made by PSUs like
MMTC and MSTC. The rest were supplied by Adani Global Pte Ltd, Knowledge
International Strategy Systems Pvt Ltd and Chettinad Logistics Pvt Ltd.
On Thursday,
when contacted by TOI, Thangamani reiterated his statement. "Procured coal
is routed through PSUs like MMTC. Even those supplied by private agencies. The
central PSUs are in-charge of the quality checks. If the quality is poor, money
is deducted or the consignment is sent back. But there has been no such
incident with Tangedco's coal supplies," he said.
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