In 5 years, electricity consumers paid Rs 276 crore extra for KPTCL project delays: CAG

BENGALURU: In an audit report on Karnataka public sector units (PSU), the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) has given a stinging report that due to the unwarranted delay by the Karnataka power transmission corporation limited (KPTCL) in completing its 220kv/110 kv lines and sub-station, electricity consumers in the state have borne the financial brunt of paying a whopping Rs 276 crore extra in electricity tariff in the last five years.
In fact, the CAG has identified projects which have been pending completion for as many as 11 years, like the double circuit line from Chikkodi substation to Kudachi substation.
Awarded to a firm called Mysore electrical industries limited (MEI) at Rs 7.48 crore in May 2003, the project was taken back from the firm in March 2010 due to poor quality of work and inability of the company to finish the job. The balance work was then given to another company called Deepak cables (India) limited at Rs 6.29 crore in 2013 but that too fell apart and the contract was terminated in 2015. It was finally completed by another agency at a cost of Rs 6.82 crore in 2016.
The CAG has cited 11 such examples like these and said that as many as 50 such projects audited by them had seen delays in completion.