BJP TN head Annamalai levels corruption charges against state electricity minister Senthil Balaji

BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai has accused the state electricity department, functioning under the auspices of its Minister V. Senthil Balaji, of indulging in corruption in the procurement of power from private power stations.

In a press conference held in Chennai yesterday (October 19), mentioned that the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board is signing agreements with private power producers in the state to purchase electricity at a higher price. He said that the DMK will pocket crores of rupees while increasing the financial burden on the people of Tamil Nadu. He mentioned that the actions of the electricity department in the coming days is going spell doom for the power sector itself. 

Responding to this, Minister Senthil Balaji while addressing reporters after an event on Wednesday (October 20), said that BJP Tamil Nadu head should prove the allegations within 24 hours.

Within a few hours of the Minister’s press meet, Annamalai posted in his social media in which he pointed out that the contractors of Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS) weren’t released payments for the past many months and that a payment of ₹29.64 Cr has been released suddenly in the recent days after taking 4% commission for bill clearance.

In another post, he said that the 5 ‘consultants’ sitting in the Minister’s Chennai home will know where this 4% commission is collected and kept.

In another post, Annamalai said that the state electricity board purchased power even upto ₹20 per unit which he said was 5 times the cost of generation.

Meanwhile, Senthil Balaji has refuted the allegations and said that the pending payments were made recently to the power generation companies after receiving funds from Powergrid Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation on October 1.

In light of this, the hashtag #ResignEBMin has been trending on Twitter.

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