Springing to the defence of minister Kiran Rijiju, Power Minister Piyush Goyal's ministry said payments to a contractor of power plant in Arunachal Pradesh were released even before the minister forwarded a representation for the same. Dubbing allegation of Rijiju using his influence to clear bills as "unsubstantiated, false and baseless", the ministry said the vigilance officer S C Verma, who alleged corruption in the construction of two dams for NEEPCO's 600 MW Kameng Hydro Electric Project in Arunachal Pradesh, had himself authorised release of substantial payments to the contractor. The Ministry in a statement said Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiran Rijiju had on November 9 last year forwarded a representation of local inhabitants of his constituency, complaining about the stoppage of payments to the sub-contractor of Patel Engineering Ltd for transportation of boulders/sand.
"At no point did Shri Rijiju recommend that payment be released but only requested that 'kindly get this petition considered in your Ministry sympathetically on priority'," it said making public the copy of the letter. But as much as 60 per cent of the payment due to PEL was released on November 4, 2015, on instruction of Verma, much before the letter of Rijiju. "Hence, the letter written by Hon'ble MoS Home Affairs has no bearing on any payments released by NEEPCO as the payment had already been released before his letter under authorisation of Shri Verma," the statement said. NEEPCO, it said, is a Mini Ratna PSU and the government does not interfere in the operational matters of PSUs.
"No instructions or directions by the Government were given to NEEPCO at any time for making any payments. Thus, the allegations made are baseless, totally false and seem to be motivated by the charge-sheet issued against an officer for violation of CVC instructions and service conduct rules," it said. Giving details, the Power Ministry said Verma was appointed as CVO to NEEPCO on October 8, 2014 and transferred on July 4, 2016 to CRPF. He was chargesheeted on May 9, 2016 for "not performing his duties" and staying away from NEEPCO headquarters Shillong for 310 days out of his 18-month tenure "without intimating the authorities or submitting any tour reports."
"After being relieved of his duties on July 5, 2016, he sent 10 back dated reports to the Ministry of Power which were received between July 18, 2016 to July 25, 2016," the ministry said in a statement. He also retained some official files in his personal custody and did not hand them over at the time of relinquishing his charge, it alleged. The Ministry said the project work was awarded to the contractor in question, Patel Engineering Ltd (PEL) in December 2004, much before the NDA government took charge. Work for transportation of boulders/ sand was awarded to them in 2012 and executed from December, 2012 to July, 2015, for which payment was made to them from time to time.
"In July 2015, Verma visited the site and initiated an investigation and stopped all payments due to which the work at site was affected. On examination of the record, it has been found that, Verma himself authorised on October 19, 2015, adhoc payment of 60 per cent of the billed amount and subsequently himself further authorised the provisional payment of 80 per cent of the billed amount vide letter dated February 3, 2016," it said.
The Ministry of Power released a statement which said:
Certain unsubstantiated, false and baseless allegations have been made by some persons in sections of the media about some alleged irregularities in payments made by NEEPCO Ltd. which are completely false and are totally denied.
From the record, it is gathered that an officer, Shri S.C. Verma, who was appointed as CVO of NEEPCO on 8th October, 2014, was transferred on 4th July, 2016 to CRPF, since he was charge sheeted on 9th May, 2016 for continued violation of CVC instructions and for violation of All India Service Conduct Rules, 1968, for not performing his duties with due diligence and care. It was found that Shri Verma stayed away from Shillong, the headquarters of NEEPCO, for a total period of 310 days during the 18 month period (October 2014 to March 2016) without intimating the authorities or submitting any tour reports. It is also reported that most of his tours were to places which were not the area of operations of NEEPCO.
After being relieved of his duties on 5th July, 2016, he sent 10 back dated reports to the Ministry of Power which were received between 18th July, 2016 to 25th July, 2016. Further it has been reported that Shri Verma retained some official files in his personal custody and did not hand them over at the time of relinquishing his charge. It has also been confirmed that 10 (ten) outward dispatch numbers were taken by Shri Verma from the Establishment Section of NEEPCO before relinquishing charge, and the same numbers were found in the office copy of the forwarding letters of these reports, which were received later on. The report on the alleged matter has been examined by the present CVO of NEEPCO and forwarded to CVC last month for appropriate action.
As regards the alleged irregularities, it is pertinent to note that the project work was awarded to M/s Patel Engineering Ltd. (PEL) in December 2004, much before the present government took charge. Work for transportation of boulders/ sand was awarded to them in 2012 itself, much before the present government took charge. PEL executed the work from December, 2012 to July, 2015 and payment was made to them from time to time during this period, after due process of verification and measurement of quantity at site and the certification of distance by the State government officials namely Asstt. District Mineral Officer (ADMO), regarding quantity of boulder/sand mined from the respective quarry. In July 2015, Shri Verma visited the site and initiated an investigation and stopped all payments due to which the work at site was affected. On examination of the record, it has been found that, Shri Verma himself authorised on 19th October, 2015, adhoc payment of 60% of the billed amount and subsequently himself further authorised the provisional payment of 80% of the billed amount vide letter dated 3rd February, 2016.
On 9th November, 2015, Hon'ble Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju forwarded a representation of local inhabitants of his constituency, complaining about the stoppage of payments to the sub-contractor of PEL for transportation of boulders/sand. At no point did Shri Rijiju recommend that payment be released but only requested that “kindly get this petition considered in your Ministry sympathetically on priority” (Copy of his letter and representation of local inhabitants is enclosed).
Rijiju letter
It was reported to the Ministry that, under the instructions of Shri Verma 60% payment had already been made on 4th November, 2015 to M/s PEL, much before the letter of Shri Kiren Rijiju. The same was intimated to Shri Rijiju by Shri Piyush Goyal, MoS (Independent Charge) Power vide letter dated 31st December, 2015.
Piyush Goyal’s letter
Hence, the letter written by Hon'ble MoS Home Affairs has no bearing on any payments released by NEEPCO as the payment had already been released before his letter under authorization of Shri Verma. NEEPCO is a Mini Ratna company and the government does not interfere in the operational matters of PSUs. No instructions or directions by the Government were given to NEEPCO at any time for making any payments. Thus, the allegations made are baseless, totally false and seem to be motivated by the charge-sheet issued against an officer for violation of CVC instructions and service conduct rules.
The following documents were also released by the government:
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