KOZHIKODE: Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala has publicly challenged Electricity Minister K Krishnankutty, demanding immediate and transparent answers to nine pressing questions concerning alleged irregularities and corruption within the state’s Agency for New and Renewable Energy Research and Technology (ANERT).
The confrontation follows the minister’s reported suggestion of a private discussion to resolve the contentious issues. Chennithala, however, firmly rejected the notion of a closed-door meeting, asserting, “This is not a private dispute or disagreement between us. Unfortunately, this concerns public taxpayer money and corruption. It’s not an issue to be resolved through private discussions between two individuals. Questions and answers should be presented publicly, and figures and evidence must be laid before the general public.”
Accepting the minister’s offer for discussion but with a crucial amendment, Chennithala insisted that “the discussion must be public.” As an initial step towards this public discourse, he has openly posed a series of pointed questions to Minister Krishnankutty, urging him to respond publicly before any further inquiries are made.
Chennithala’s first question centred on the alleged unauthorised nature of a significant tender. He asked if the minister was aware that the ANERT CEO, whose authority to invite tenders was limited to `5 crore, had inexplicably issued a tender worth a staggering `240 crore.
Chennithala questioned a suspected violation of tender conditions. He pointed out that while tender specifications stipulated that the maximum capacity of each power plant allocated to companies would be determined by their grading rate, this condition was allegedly disregarded. He demanded to know under whose direction orders were issued allowing all companies to install power plants of all capacities.
The fourth question delved into what Chennithala described as “discrepancies in order values,” alleging that orders had been issued to several companies for amounts exceeding their original tender quotes.
He further asked,”Why has the 2021 decision by the ANERT Executive Committee to fix a base price for solar plants in the state not been implemented yet?” He also pressed the minister on the utilisation of central funds, among other issues.