6 yrs of probes fail to hold anyone guilty for hydel project anomalies

In the past six years,four probes have been ordered into heavy cost and time overruns,one of these by the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (HPERC). The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India’s has also conducted special audits over the alleged irregularities.

“We have submitted our findings to the state government. We had worked on the case indepth and examined all aspects. Only departmental action has been recommended,” said K C Sadyal,Additional Director General of Police (Vigilance).

The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) has already initiated inquiry against two top officials — S S Dabas,a retired chief engineer and S P Gautam,a deputy chief engineer — who were posted at the Larji project site. “No final action has been taken yet,as an inquiry is underway,” said a HPSEB official.

What has surprised many is the fact that despite the CAG submitting two separate audit reports — squarely blaming HPSEB engineers and recommending registration of FIRs to find criminal capabilities — the probes have failed to come up with any result.

The CAG,in its latest report,had claimed that the project — located on Beas river in Kullu district — has been delayed by 125 months. The envisaged per unit and per MW costs of 24.47 paise and Rs 1.34 crore had increased to Rs 2.40 and Rs 10.27 crore respectively.

It had stated: “Besides the recovery of interest on the Rs 5.83 crore paid to the contractors irregularly,action should be taken against the officers.” It also suggested imposition of a penalty of Rs 1.54 crore on the officers responsible for the mess.

Earlier,an inquiry ordered by the HPERC had detected serious irregularities in the execution of the project and held HPSEB responsible for the scam. Another inquiry conducted later by the HPSEB also probed the alleged irregularities and submitted point wise findings.

The Larji hydel project was approved in 1987 by the Planning Commission at a cost of Rs 168.85 crore. Actual work,however,started in 1990-91 with a scheduled deadline of September,1996 at a cost much less than Rs 796.98 crore — later revised in 1998. The project was finally completed in October 2006.

Most inquiries had blamed the government for not taking any action against the officers,who had wasted hundreds of crores of public money.