Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the Opposition has cast aspersions on the Kerala government's deal with a Swiss electric bus major, records show the state went ahead with the e-mobility project overruling warning against the move by the adviser for the ambitious plan.
Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala, the advisor to the e-mobility project and the main advisor to the Union Railway Minister, had warned that the e-bus plan may not be of much use to the state and that Kerala faced many hurdles in implementing it.
The Kerala government signed the agreement with HESS for manufacturing 3,000 e-buses despite these warnings.
When the controversy over the e-bus scheme erupted, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said that the state had decided to go ahead with it on the basis of the discussions it had held with Jhunjhunwala and other experts. He had, however, not mentioned that Jhunjhunwala had pointed out the many obstacles the state would face.
A meeting under Jhunjhunwala was held on December 16, 2017, to discuss the e-mobility project. The then chief secretary was among the 11 top-level state officials who took part in the meeting held at the Mascot Hotel in Thiruvananthapuram.
Never once during the meeting did Jhunjhunwala say the e-bus scheme will be useful for the state, records show.
He had said that the e-bus system was fully operational only in China and that in other countries, it was only in the testing stage.
There are no established models or studies to implement the system, he had said. The e-buses will be costly due to the large size of the batteries required to operate them.
He had also pointed out that setting up charging stations will require the full backing of power distribution companies.
Central directive too was overruled
It has emerged that the state government signed the agreement with HESS by disregarding the central government’s direction against it.
The Centre had said that only Kerala Automobiles Limited (KAL), a public sector unit, should sign the agreement and that the state government should not be a part of it.
The new allegation is that the transport secretary signed the agreement with HESS by overruling this central instruction.
This belies the claim of the chief minister that the state had entered into the agreement with the full consent of the Union government.
Moreover, HESS representatives had attended a meeting held at the chief secretary’s office last February. There is no explanation as to why officials of an overseas company would participate in the meeting if the government had only signed an MoU. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has also raised this question.
The Kerala government has been facing allegations of corruption in its various decisions on the e-bus project.
The Opposition has alleged that the consultant for the project, PricewaterhouseCoopers, was arbitrarily appointed by the chief minister.
It said that PwC was appointed to circumvent the objections raised by the former chief secretary to the deal. He had questioned if due process was followed in selecting HESS for the project.
The finance secretary had also stated that the state did not not have the resources to implement the project, given that the e-buses are very costly.
