A man on phone walks past Adani signage of a residential cum commercial tower in Mumbai. Representative image.
PTI
Bhubaneswar: The BJD which was in power in Odisha from 2000 till June 2024, on Friday said the allegations that state government officials took bribes from the Adani Group for supply of renewable energy to the state from the central pool are "false and not based on fact."
The opposition party headed by former CM Naveen Patnaik also claimed that the case of Odisha is different from that of other states as the BJD government privatised power distribution and the administration has no direct link with agreements made for availing renewable energy.
Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan of the present BJP government said it would do the needful in the alleged bribery case.
Adani and seven others, including his nephew Sagar Adani, have been charged by the US Department of Justice with paying bribes to unidentified government officials of several states including Odisha to buy expensive solar power, potentially earning more than USD 2 billion in profit over 20 years.
Adani Group, however, denied the charges saying the allegations by US prosecutors are "baseless" and the conglomerate is "compliant with all laws"
Former Odisha Energy minister and BJD MLA PK Deb said, "The allegations made in the name of Odisha are baseless and not based on facts."
The BJD in a statement said whatever Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was done in 2021 between SECI which is a central PSU under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and state PSU Gridco for supply of renewable energy.
The party also stated that the agreement was made according to the central government’s Manufacturing linked Solar Scheme.
“The agreement was confined between two government agencies Gidco and SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited). The state government has no role in all these matters though the administration was informed about the PPA," Deb told PTI.
He said the agreement was to purchase 500 MW of renewable energy from SECI at the lowest rates.
“There was no engagement with any private party whatever, including Adani Group,” the BJD statement clarified.
It said that to fulfil the renewable energy commitments, the state has been procuring renewable energy from the central PSUs like SECI and NTPC from 2011 onwards.
While explaining the difference between Odisha and other states, Deb said, "We in Odisha have privatised the power distribution while other states are doing the job directly. Here, Tata Power is carrying out the distribution part of the electricity supply."
This apart, Deb said that all the agreements on power get the approval of the OERC (Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission), an autonomous body. The Gridco is also semi-autonomous. Therefore, the state government has no direct role in the agreements.
“Neither the energy department minister nor the secretary are involved in all such agreements," Deb said adding that hence the allegations with respect to Odisha are baseless and incorrect.
Gridco, a state PSU is presently engaged in bulk purchase and bulk sale of power to the four distribution companies inside Odisha and trading of surplus power with neighbouring states.
Gridco, however, is yet to respond to these allegations.
Senior BJD leader and party’s deputy opposition leader in Assembly, Prasanna Acharya called for an immediate and impartial investigation into the bribery allegations.
Senior Odisha Congress leader Sarat Pattanayak supported Rahul Gandhi’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the matter.
Another leader S S Saluja said that the alleged bribery incident took place during the BJD government and demanded a CBI investigation.
Former Union minister and Congress leader Srikant Jena alleged that Odisha’s natural resources were sold to the Adani group.