The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has hauled up gas utility GAIL India for extending over Rs 246 crore worth undue benefits to private power producers by supplying natural gas at subsidized rates. Much towards the violation of Petroleum Ministry’s directives, the CAG report, underscored that the company supplied natural gas at subsidized rates to ineligible power producers generating and supplying electricity to their consumers at commercial rates, thereby depriving eligible consumers of subsidised/APM gas.
Meanwhile, GAIL also has been condemned for its failure to ensure quantity of natural gas being used by fertilizer companies for manufacturing non-fertilizer products and its billing at market price instead of subsidised price, which in turn resulted into consequent substantial under recovery in the gas pool account besides extra avoidable burden on government subsidy towards fertilizer production.
CAG has also pulled up the state-owned firm for its failure to recover Rs 29.78 crore from Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries (RIL) in absence of effective regular clause in the gas supply agreement with RIL for recovery of charges levied for over drawal of gas beyond the allocated quantity.
