Sai-Kothi plant: Dhumal son accuses CM of misleading people

Renewing attack on Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh over re-allotment of Sai-Kothi hydro power project to a private firm, former CM P K Dhumal's son Arun Dhumal today accused the incumbent of misleading the people.
"Startling facts have come out... An earlier note of a retired chief engineer of State Electricity Board was made the basis for restoring the project to Venture Energy and Technology Ltd (VETL) in 2007," Arun told reporters here.
The 2005 note of retired chief engineer K K Vaidya was used to justify the re-allotment of the project in 2007 when he had already superannuated, Arun said.

"The fresh revelations have rubbished the claim of the Chief Minister that the project which was cancelled in September 2004 was re-allotted on the orders of the court," he said.
The Sai-Kothi project, which has become a bone of contention between the Dhumal family and the Chief Minister, was again cancelled in November 2013 on the ground that the promoter failed to deposit the money within stipulated time.
Meanwhile, reiterating BJP's demand for a white paper on the issue and CBI inquiry into charges of irregularities, party leader Suresh Bhardwaj said the Chief Minister had also misled the Assembly by stating that "the matter is pending in the court and whereas the reality is that the court has not taken any cognisance of the matter yet".