V Senthil Balaji.
Credit: PTI photo
Energy Minister V Senthil Balaji on Thursday clarified that the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) doesn’t have any “commercial relationship” with the Adani Group and the state government entered into an agreement only with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for purchase of solar power at a “cheap price.”
Balaji was responding to allegations recorded in a US court that the Adani Group promised bribes to Indian government officials between July 2021 and February 2022 following which electricity distribution firms from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Jammu and Kashmir entered into pacts with SECI for purchase of solar power.
“Let me clarify that the TNEB doesn’t have any commercial relationship with the Adani Group. Baseless allegations are being made in social media and I categorically refute such suggestions,” Balaji told reporters in his home town of Karur in western Tamil Nadu.
The minister said the TNEB signed an agreement with SECI, a public sector undertaking of the Union Government, for purchase of solar power at Rs 2.61 per unit. The agreement between TNEB and SECI was signed for a period of 25 years.
“We purchased solar power at a very cheap price. We know the high price per unit that the AIADMK government paid to buy power. Our pact was only with SECI which purchased solar power from private companies (like Adani Group) and sold it to us. We have no direct connection with the Adani Group,” Balaji added.
He also said the TNEB didn’t sign any direct agreement with Adani Group after the DMK government assumed office in May 2021.