BJP Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai on Saturday said his party’s allegations of irregularities in awarding contract of the Ennore Thermal Power Station (ETPS) expansion project to BGR Energy Systems Limited (BGRESL) have been vindicated by the showcause notice issued by Tangedco to the contractor over an inordinate delay.
In the notice issued in June, which Mr. Annamalai posted on social media, Tangedco has said that “no appreciable progress of works is visible at site even after a lapse of 450 days from the new zero date i.e., 09.03.2022”. The notice asked the company to respond within 30 days on why the contract should not be terminated.
In late 2021, the BJP alleged that there was some level of corruption in the DMK government reinstating BGRESL as the contractor for the 660-MW project. The letter of intent issued to the company for the project by the previous AIADMK government was cancelled in April 2021, when the party was still in power. After its decision in late 2021, Tangedco formally reinstated the earlier letter of intent issued to BGRESL in March 2022.
The BJP had earlier questioned the rationale behind awarding the contract to BGRESL, stating that its experience and capacity showed it would not be able to deliver the project.
Mr. Annamalai on Saturday alleged that the ₹4,442-crore project was given to BGRESL by the DMK government for their “personal monetary gains”.
He appealed to the Madras High Court to order a CBI probe into the irregularities in the project, considering the loss to the exchequer caused by the delay in the execution of the project.
