Large scale corruption prevails in DVC: Arun Kumar

05 February, 2013

Large scale corruption prevailing in Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) is eating into the very fiscal basis of this public sector unit, alleged Arun Kumar, Member Press Council of India, in a letter to Union Power Minister.

Kumar stated that he is mentioning just a few acts of omissions and commissions, which seem to be a part of large-scale scam malaise. He wrote that the government had sanctioned 5200 MW thermal power to DVC for supplying uninterrupted power during Commonwealth Games in 2010. But till date, the thermal plants envisaged could not be completed due to nothing else, but large-scale corruption.

Around 2000 cases of award of contracts on a single tender basis/ nomination basis by the DVC management speaks loudly of prevailing corruption. A note prepared by the Chief Vigilance Officer DVC has been attached with the letter to prove charges. Even Central Vigilance Commission has reportedly taken note of it.

It may be mentioned that DVC made an illegal and fraud donation of Rs. 1 crore to an event management company which had to be refunded after its exposure by some whistle blowers inside the DVC itself.

At Raghunathpur thermal, the work was awarded to Reliance Infra Ltd. on a single tender basis and an interest free advance of Rs. 354 crore was given in blatant violation of rules. Further proven use of less steel material in cooling tower of unit no. 1 led to stoppage of work of cooling tower in October 2010 and matter is still hanging fire. DVC has lost Rs. 4680 crore due to non-commissioning of the project.

On one hand, the present DVC chairman has appointed 22 advisors/ consultants and on the other hand, he has been found to be victimizing whistleblowers like AK Jain and PP Sah for pointing out omissions and commissions, leading to dismal performance of DVC.

It may be mentioned that A.K.Jain, President of DVC Engineers’ Association and Addl. Secretary General, All India Power Engineers’ Federation is fighting against corruption in DVC for long now with a view to save DVC from becoming sick due to rampant corruption in its top management.