Indian Trinamool Congress MP Jawhar Sircar asked the Indian government to clarify whether it was “actively involved” in pushing the Adani group's electricity project with Bangladesh, reports The Times of India.
The Rajya Sabha member sent three letters to India’s minister of external affairs S Jaishankar, since December seeking an “official version” on whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the minister played a role in “pushing Adani's deal through.”
In the latest letter dated Feb 13, the report quoted Sircar as writing: “Adani related matters are in the eye of a public storm, and this aspect of his patently unfair power purchase agreement with Bangladesh may trigger a major anti-India groundswell.”
“There are items and documents to indicate that PM himself was steering this project from his first post-election visit to Dhaka, and that at a later stage, you [Jaishankar] were actively involved in pushing this Adani deal through,” it read.
In his first letter to Jaishankar two months earlier, Sircar referred to a report in The Washington Post, published on Dec 9 titled “How political will often favours a Coal Billionaire and his dirty fossil fuel.”
He wrote to the minister saying, “The report mentions a $1.7 billion, 1600 MW coal-powered plant of the Adani group… and how the Washington Post has accessed and analysed the 163-page PPA.”
The Trinamool MP also claimed that this mandated that Bangladesh must pay Adani approximately $4.55 billion a year in capacity and maintenance charges, regardless of whether it generates any electricity.
“It further mentions that Bangladesh has 40% more power generation than the peak demand and that it would have to buy Adani's electricity at more than five times the market price of bulk electricity in the country,” he added.
Sircar, who is from West Bengal which shares borders with Bangladesh, warned the government saying, "These statements provide a handle to the strong anti-India elements in our neighbouring country. You may like to examine more details mentioned by The Washington Post and rebut the charges, if proper."
“Our relationship with Bangladesh is extremely sensitive and such adverse reports circulated in the run-up to elections are the stuff of agitations.”
The Washington Post report mentioned that the coal for the plant in Jharkhand's Godda was likely to be supplied by Adani's own empire and the project's environmental paperwork showed that 7 million tonnes a year would be transported from overseas.
It added that industry analysts said the coal will probably come on Adani ships to an Adani-owned port in eastern India, then arrive at the plant on a stretch of Adani-built rail. The electricity generated will be sent to the border over an Adani-built high-voltage line. Under the contract, shipping and transmission costs will be passed on to Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Power Development Board sent a letter to Adani Group to reconsider the terms of the 2018 electricity purchase deal. Adani is yet to respond.
The ministry of external affairs had reacted to Dhaka saying the deal was between a sovereign government and a private company and did not involve the Indian government. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said the government focuses largely on issues like greater economic integration and connectivity with countries in the neighbourhood.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
