BENGALURU: Chief whip of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council N Ravi Kumar on Monday alleged that the State Government had placed orders for transformers from a company in Kerala, ignoring Karnataka Vidyuth Karkhane Limited (Kavika).
Raising the issue during Question Hour in the ongoing legislature session, he also alleged that the government had selected Kerala Electrical and Allied Engineering Limited (KEAEL) though prices of transformers are much lower in Odisha, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and other states.
Kumar said had the government favoured Kavika for supply of transformers, it would have helped in generating employment in the state. But the government preferred KEAEL. Instead of procuring transformers by inviting tenders, it had sought a 4G exemption.
Responding to Kumar, Karnataka Energy Minister KJ George said, “Kavika’s working capital is less and it could manufacture only 15,000 transformers. After our intervention, the production capacity has been increased to 30,000. All transformers produced by Kavika are purchased by the state. However, the state needs 50,000 transformers. Therefore, to meet the additional requirement, we placed orders with the Kerala-based company at lower prices.”
He said the Congress government is not the first to purchase transformers from companies outside Karnataka. Even the BJP government made such purchases in the past.
Further, minister George said such procurements are done under 4G exemption only after the finance department gives its nod.
Earlier, the House mourned former MLA Basrur Appanna Hegde and veteran journalist Ramaiah.