A recent round table meeting, organized by the Centre for Liberty (CFL) in Tirupati on Friday, brought to light several critical issues plaguing Andhra Pradesh’s power sector. Speakers at the event specifically highlighted alleged corrupt deals involved in the procurement of power equipment, reportedly worth thousands of crores of rupees.
Retired IPS officer A.B. Venkateswara Rao, affiliated with CFL, didn’t hold back, criticizing successive state governments, including both the YSRCP and NDA alliance administrations, for consistently favoring a single supplier. He challenged the current government, which had previously vowed to eradicate corruption from the former regime, to confront what he termed the ‘corporate mafia’ dominating the power sector.
Rao also recalled a reformative move that separated various arms of the Power department, intended to curb losses. However, he contended that these efforts had utterly failed to benefit the common citizen. He further alleged that out of the 2.1 million power connections across the state, a staggering 1.1 million fall under the purview of A.P. Southern Discom, headquartered in Tirupati, making it a prime target for this ‘corporate mafia.’
Adding to the concerns, Rao asserted that the A.P. Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) had not, in the past 25 years, rectified a single erroneous decision made by any of the state’s power generation or distribution companies.
Chakravarthy Nalamotu, founder of CFL, emphasized the importance of public awareness regarding the various deals in the power sector. He specifically accused the government of favoring one particular company, Shirdi Sai Electricals, through a series of questionable actions. These alleged actions included accepting a minimal bank guarantee, manipulating contract terms to exclude smaller competitors, purchasing equipment at inflated prices, loosening quality inspection regulations, and ultimately overlooking deviations in the quality of supplied goods.
Further echoing these sentiments, irrigation expert T. Lakshminarayana and farmer leader Bhavani Prasad criticized all political parties for allegedly colluding with corporate entities.
Other prominent figures who voiced similar concerns included CPI State executive member A. Rama Naidu, district secretary P. Murali, CITU district secretary Kandarapu Murali, CPI(M) district secretary V. Nagaraju, CPI(ML) secretary R. Harikrishna, and BSP leader P. Anjaiah.