Shaktisinh Gohil, the Chief of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, has made serious allegations against the BJP government in Gujarat, saying that crores of rupees had been paid to Adani Power Mundra Limited (APML) without proper oversight by the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. (GUVNL).
Addressing a news conference on Saturday, Gohil said that Gautam Adani’s APML had failed to comply with the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) norms and conditions. It had failed to provide necessary documents such as invoices and price bidding evidence related to coal procurement, despite having received a sum of Rs. 13,802 crores over a span of five years. Gohil pointed out that a letter had been dispatched by GUVNL, a public sector undertaking owned by the Gujarat Government, to APML, citing this non-compliance issue. The letter says that an additional Rs. 3,900 crore had been disbursed, surpassing the designated payment of Rs. 9,902 crore. Gohil has demanded that the excess funds be returned.
The Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) inked between GUVNL and Adani Power says that the energy charges for coal sourced from Indonesia would be based on a fixed price. Gohil said that the agreement required APML to furnish the competitive bid and billing documents for the procured coal. However, no such documentation was submitted for a period of five years, during which the government continued disbursing significant sums as “energy charges.”
The news conference also touched upon the Hindenburg report, published in January 2023, which has accused the Adani Group of accounting fraud, stock price manipulation, and the improper utilization of tax havens. The Chairman of the Congress media and publicity department, who was present at the press conference, said that following the public scrutiny triggered by this report and the pressure exerted by the Congress party and other opposition groups in Parliament regarding Adani’s association with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, GUVNL wrote to Gautam Adani, seeking the reimbursement of the surplus amount.
