India News | Congress Alleges Irregularities in Odisha's Power Sector, Demands CAG Audit

Bhubaneswar, Dec 18 (PTI) Alleging large-scale financial irregularities in the Odisha government's Energy Department, the Congress on Monday demanded an audit by the CAG.

Addressing a press conference, state Congress president Sarat Pattanayak claimed the BJD government has allocated Rs 20,000 crore for power infrastructure development but no one knows what happened to the money.

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"Now, the government is planning to allocate Rs 15,000 crore to a private company that is operating in the power distribution sector in the state," he said.

Senior Congress leader Bijay Patnaik said the aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) loss was 22 per cent between 2017-18 and 2020-21 despite the allocation of such a huge amount of funds for the development of power infrastructure.

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"The AT&C loss in Gujarat was at 13 per cent, while it was 18 per cent in Chhattisgarh. If the AT&C loss remained the same for three years, where has this money gone, and why is an additional amount being allocated?" he asked.

The Congress leaders demanded an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), alleging financial irregularities in the Energy Department.

Senior BJD leader Amar Satpathy said that the sector is regulated by the Odisha State Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) and if the Congress has any specific allegation, they should put forth those with evidence before it.

"The party has made such wild allegations against the government only for political gains," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)