The power ministry on Tuesday refuted that Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, was involved in a scam with regard to a massive hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh. This pertains to Rijiju allegedly using his influence to clear fake bills worth crores in the Rs 450-crore scam. Union minister Piyush Goyal’s ministry has said the allegations against Rijiju are “unsubstantiated, false and baseless”, PTI reported.
Rijiju had allegedly written to the ministry in November 2015, seeking that payments for the 600-MW Kameng project be cleared, after a report from Chief Vigilance Officer Satish Verma of Eastern Electric Power had pointed out irregularities regarding payments. Payments had not been cleared after Verma’s report was filed in July 2015. However, the ministry has released documents, and in a statement said that Rijiju had recommended the funds be released because of a complaint from local residents in his constituency. They had complained about stopping payments to the sub-contractor Patel Engineering Ltd for transportation of boulders/sand for the project.
“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’,” the ministry’s statement said. However, around 60% of payments had already been cleared on November 4, while Rijiju’s letter was dated November 9, 2015. “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”.
It added that the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited is a Mini Ratna Public Sector Unit and that it “does not interfere” with PSUs. The ministry also said the allegations against Rijiju “seem to be motivated by the charge-sheet issued against an officer for violation of CVC instructions and service conduct rules”. Verma’s report had also implicated Rijiju’s cousin Goboi who is a sub-contractor in the project.
Following news of the scam, the Congress has demanded Rijiju’s resignation or sacking till an investigation into the allegations is complete. The party has also claimed to have audio evidence of Rijiju’s involvement in the scam. Rijiju has rejected the allegations.
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