Bengaluru: Reacting sharply to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s allegation of irregularities in the power sector, Energy Minister, D K Shivakumar on Monday challenged it to a debate on the issue either in the media, the Assembly floor or on a public platform .
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders C T Ravi and Suresh Kumar recently alleged that family members of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee women’s wing president Laxmi Hebbalkar were awarded 15 solar energy projects to produce 300 MW of power and an Indonesian company she had invested in was supplying coal to Karnataka Power Corporation.
Challenging the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders to produce evidence to back their claims, the minister said that after he assumed charge, the KPC had been buying coal from the government owned MSTC company. “But we don't know where they are buying coal form," he added.
As for the allotment of solar power plants, Mr Shivakumar claimed there was a very transparent procedure involved. Instead of calling for tenders, farmers were asked to apply for them through the NIC website and were given a month’s training in filling the forms. Finally over 26,000 of them responded, he said. The process was even appreciated by the Union government,w hich gave assistance of Rs 350 crore for the project, he added.
Asked about problems dogging the Pavagada Solar Park, Mr Shivakumar said the local contractors were making unreasonable demands but the government was unwilling to give in.
