The Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) kept feeding inferior quality coal to the Raichur Thermal Power Station since 2009 while paying for a higher grade of coal, the CAG report said.
The report stated that the grades of coal of all three collieries that KPCL procured coal from were found to be different at the point of dispatch and after being received at RTPS. “The total extra money paid by KPCL for this coal has been estimated to be Rs 424.25 crore. On top of this, it even deemed it fit to pay the supplier Rs 11.86 crore bonus. The damage done to the RTPS units are not part of this estimate,” said Anita Pattanayak, Principal Accountant General, Economic and Revenue Sector Audit, Karnataka.
KPTCL blamed for lapse
A performance audit by CAG has revealed that Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited’s (KPTCL) complete lack of planning in building transmission capacity led to 507.5 MW of power a day from UPCL not being evacuated between March 2011 and August 2012.
“Also, the absence of evacuation lines resulted in non-availing of 364.67 million units (MU) of power from Priyadarshini Jurala Hydro Project which is a Joint venture with Andhra Pradesh Government,” said Anita Pattanayak, Principal Accountant General, Economic and Revenue Sector Audit, Karnataka, at a press conference to present the reports on Thursday.