TD suspects massive scam in smart meters contract

Vijayawada: Telugu Desam politburo member and former minister Somireddy Chandramohan said on Wednesday that he suspected a massive scam in the award of contracts for smart meters and transformers to the Shirdi Sai Company.

This involved a huge amount of 29,000 crore and the company is suspected to be a benami of the YSRC Kadapa MP, Avinash Reddy, he said.

He said the deal was finalised at the office of the Shirdi Sai Company in Kadapa in the presence of Avinash Reddy and the chairman and managing director (CMD) of the SPDCL (Southern Power Distribution Company Ltd).

When the value of a smart meter in the open market is less than 10,000, why did the SPDCL fix the price for each meter at 36,975, he asked.

Chandramohan alleged that even the meter reading burden too is being increased from 5.30 per month to a whooping 153. "The secret of the Kadapa meetings will come out if the CBI collects the details through a Google search."

He urged the Centre to bail out the five crore people of the state from this "massive scam."

The TD leader alleged that though details on this smart meters contract have been sought thrice under the provisions of the RTI Act, the CMDs of the three Discoms did not respond. "Only after I contacted the Energy Secretary, the EPDCL officials shared some details with me," he said.