Adanis favoured in power deal: Shaktisinh Gohil

The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil, on Friday charged the state government with favouring the Adani group firm, Adani Power, by buying power worth Rs450 crore from it at a high cost.

Speaking in the assembly, Gohil alleged that instead of buying power at a cheap rate directly from power producers, the government bought it from the Adani company at a high rate. He said that the state government had last year purchased power worth Rs650 crore from 10 of its favourite companies without inviting tenders.

Out of it, 67% power was purchased from the Adani company. While power was bought from a Lanco group firm at Rs4.29 per unit, it was bought from Adanis at Rs6.27 per unit to benefit the group at the cost of state exchequer.

Rejecting the allegations made by Gohil, Saurabh Patel, minister of state for energy, said,"Gohil's allegations regarding power purchase by the state government from private companies are baseless. The companies called middlemen by Gohil have been duly licensed by the central government to purchase and sell power.

We have bought power for the state's farmers and people as per the guidelines set by the Government of India. If he (Gohil) feels that's wrong, then he can go to the central government and get the norms changed.''