Mumbai: Sanjay Nirupam hints at higher power tariffs via power sector scam

Mumbai: Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Sanjay Nirupam, on Tuesday, furnished a series of documents, Gautam Adani is reported to have struck a deal with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure to acquire power for the Mumbai region. According to Nirupam, this will result in inflated monthly power bills for consumers.

The Congress leader said he discovered the valuation of Mumbai power business of Reliance Infra (R-Infra), which was done by M/S. SSPA and Co. and approved by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), pegged the business at Rs 5,575 crore only. “I believe the deal is fishy because on December 21, 2017, Reliance had, in an official statement, stated that they are selling 100 percent of its power supply in Mumbai to Adani Transmission Ltd. for Rs 18,000 crore and that R-Infra will have a cash surplus of Rs 3000 crore after repaying it’s loan,” said Nirupam. He questioned, “Why is Adani Power paying R-Infra Rs12,425 crore more than the valuation of its total city power business? They need to explain it.” Nirupam further alleges that Adani Transmission Ltd. itself is in huge debt and cited statistics form Bloomberg data, stating the total debt recorded at Rs 47,609.43 crores. “Instead of paying back their loans, why are they overpaying Ambanis, by Rs 12,000 crore,” Nirupam alleged.