New Delhi: It had been observed that the government of Gujarat had made undue favour to Ambani, Adani and Essar in state. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had tabled a report in Gujarat Assembly on Friday which cited irregularities to the tune hundreds of crores, stated that companies such as Reliance Petroleum, Essar Power and Adani Group got undue favours from the state government.
The report stated that the state government-run Gujarat Maritime Board handed an “undue favour” to Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) by allowing it to pay only half the stipulated port fees, which led to a loss of Rs 649.29 crore.
GMB entered into an agreement with RPL in July 1999 to allow the petroleum giant to build its own captive jetty in Sikka near Jamnagar, for its liquid and gas cargo, said report.
According to CAG, the cost of construction of the jetty was Rs 362.01 crore. As per the agreement and the government policy to encourage private players, GMB allowed a 50 per cent rebate on the stipulated wharfage (port fees) at the rate of Rs 36 per metric tonne to RPL till construction cost was recovered.
RPL paid Rs 18 per MT of cargo handled at it jetty after it commenced the operations in 1999. However, according to CAG, even after RPL recovered the cost of construction in January 2006, GMB allowed RPL to pay at the same rate.
CAG said that RPL added Rs 138.92 crore to the original cost of construction in June 2010, taking it to Rs 452.51. So, GMB allowed RPL to pay at the concessional rate till March 2012.
CAG concluded that erroneous calculation by GMB in determining full wharfage and actual set-off “led to short recovery of wharfage charges of Rs 649.29 crore as undue favour to RPL”.
The report also claimed that Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) passed on “undue benefit” of Rs 587.50 crore to Essar Power by allowing it to change the delivery point of transmission of power to GETCO from its plant.
Bureau Report
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