Adani row: Amid a collection of allegations, the Congress on Friday claimed that the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has been importing LPG utilizing the Adani-owned Gangavaram Port, as an alternative of the government-run Visakhapatnam Port so as to present an “unfavourable” contract to the enterprise tycoon.
Interestingly, the recent allegation got here a day after IOC clarified its preliminary pact for hiring the Adani Group port for LPG imports as well as to present pacts with close by ports, saying there is no such thing as a take-or-pay settlement.
Taking to the microblogging web site, IOC, in response to TMC chief Mahua Moitra elevating a stink of a rip-off in hiring of the port facility and not using a tender, contradicted Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited’s incomes name presentation that stated: “MoU signed with IOCL for a take-or-pay contract at Gangavaram Port for building LPG handling facilities”.
Congress questions PM Modi’s position
Meanwhile, Congress basic secretary Jairam Ramesh, stated he had questioned PM Narendra Modi’s position in facilitating an Adani Group “monopoly” within the ports sector earlier and Friday’s questions have been a follow-up and associated to the IOC settlement to use the LPG amenities within the Gangavaram Port.
“It is now widely known that you (PM) have used all the means at your disposal to help Adani (Group) expand its ports business, whether by giving port concessions in the absence of bidding or by inflicting income tax raids on business groups to encourage them to sell their valuable assets to Adani,” Ramesh alleged in his assertion.
“PM undermining PSUs intentionally”
He requested the prime minister why he was “intentionally undermining” the general public sector that his authorities was meant to be stewarding on behalf of the residents of India.
“Your government had previously blocked a 2021 bid by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust for the Dighi Port in Maharashtra, which ended up in Adani’s hands. Now we learn that IOC, which was earlier importing LPG via the government-run Visakhapatnam Port, is instead being made to use the neighbouring Gangavaram Port, and that too via an unfavourable ‘take-or-pay’ contract,” the Congress chief charged.
“Do you view India’s public sector simply as a tool to enrich your cronies,” Ramesh requested Modi.
He identified that IOC has clarified that it has solely signed a non-binding MoU with Adani Ports and that there is no such thing as a binding take-or-pay settlement “as of now”.
“Did Adani Ports inadvertently reveal the game before it was finalised? Does the signing of an MoU not clearly indicate the direction in which IOC is being pushed? Does the fact that a take-or-pay contract was at all on the table not betray the fact that Adani was going to be made the primary port for the import of LPG rather than one of many, as IOC has stated,” he requested.
Congress additionally raises issues over LIC
Ramesh stated the state-run Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is a serious shareholder in IOC with an 8.3 per cent stake price Rs 9,400 crore, and likewise a serious shareholder in Adani Ports and SEZ with a stake of 9.1 per cent price Rs 1,130 crore.
“Where is the due diligence by government shareholders? Who is looking out for the interests of the shareholders of IOC? Or is this loot being carried out under your benevolent gaze and restraining hand,” he requested.
The Congress has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations towards the Adani Group by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research.
A Hindenburg report has levelled allegations of monetary irregularities and inventory manipulation towards Adani Group firms. The Adani Group has dismissed the allegations as baseless.
(With inputs from PTI)
