Congress today sought a CBI probe into the alleged benefits being given by the state Bharatiya Janata Party-government to Sravanthi Energy Pvt Ltd, a Gurgoan-based company, for setting up a 225 Mw gas-based combined cycle power plant in Uttarakhand.
Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat at a press conference here claimed that the state government notified 46.7 acres of land at Kashipur area for industrial purpose for setting up the Sravanthi plant, when the environmental clearance was only for 30 acres.
Rawat further alleged, the state also lost the right of 12.5 per cent of free royalty from the proposed project as it was not sanctioned by the power department. “Sravanthi entered into agreement with the industrial department to set up the plant. Had it entered into such agreement with the power department, the state must have been benefited with a royalty of 12.5 free power,” Rawat claimed.
Besides, the power department also issued a ‘No Objection Certificate’ to the office of commissioner of customs at Mumbai for the clearance of the import of goods required for the gas plant when it was not in picture. Sravanthi had recently imported gas turbines from US-based GE Energy.
Sravanthi is setting up its power plant at Kashipur after GAIL began constructing its Karanpur-Moradabad-Kashipur-Rudrapur pipeline to cater to the gas demand in the region. According to officials here, GAIL has committed 0.6 mmscmd of gas to Sravanthi company.
Sravanthi Energy expects the commercial operation of phase one to begin in the third quarter of 2011 and phase two in the first quarter of 2012, it said.
When contacted, a power department official described the charges levelled by the Opposition as “baseless” and said the government has done nothing wrong in the project. Last year, the government came under scanner after the High Court cancelled 56 hydropower projects after corruption allegations.