Anil blames Mukesh for delay in Dadri power plant

Industrialist Anil Ambani today again blamed elder brother Mukesh Ambani-run RIL for delays in his group's proposed 7,800 MW gas-based Dadri power plant and alleged that RIL was deliberately keeping gas output down to keep prices high.

Reacting to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora's assertion in Parliament that Anil Ambani group firm's proposed Dadri power plant would be considered for allocation of gas along with similar projects, he said: "Dadri is not operational due to RIL's malafide intentions."

RIL, he said, had not given his group firm a bankable fuel supply contract.

On Deora's remarks that RIL's KG-D6 fields was producing 31 million standard cubic meters per day, he said production was deliberately kept low because of lack of demand for the gas whose delivered price comes to over USD 7 per mmBtu.

He renewed his demand for public audit of RIL's KG-D6 field costs and immediate reduction in the gas transportation tariff charged by a Mukesh Ambani-owned firm that transports gas from east coast to the west.

Ambani welcomed Deora's statement that the government had nothing to do with the private dispute between industrialists or individuals, and said that the Petroleum Ministry should limit its stand before the Supreme Court only to the interpretation of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC).