Electricity Minister K. Krishnankutty on Wednesday denied that the chairman and managing director of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), B. Ashok, levelled allegations against anyone on Facebook.
Replying to questions in the State Assembly, Mr. Krishnankutty said that the CMD had merely drawn attention to certain ''technical issues'' in the KSEB and had reacted to certain charges made on social media.
(A February 14 Facebook post by Mr. Ashok, which coincided with the indefinite strike launched by KSEB unions against the management's policies and the deployment of State Industrial Security Force (SISF) in the KSEB headquarters, had courted controversy. Although he later withdrew the post after the strike was settled, he had levelled serious allegations regarding malpractices in the KSEB. Mr. Krishnankutty had ordered an inquiry by the Power Secretary regarding its contents. While withdrawing his post, Mr. Ashok had also added that there were errors in his post.)
The Minister's stand in the Assembly on the issue did not go down well with the Opposition UDF members on Wednesday.
Everyone had seen the Facebook post uploaded by the KSEB CMD. The Minister stating in the Assembly that there was no such post is not right, N. Shamsudheen of the IUML pointed out. K. Babu of the Congress sought a clarification from the Minister on the status of the ''allegations'' made by Mr. Ashok. One of the charges made by Mr. Ashok was that even the confidentiality of bids was flouted in the KSEB, Mr. Babu said.
The unions had called off their indefinite strike last Saturday after holding separate meetings with Mr. Krishnankutty and Mr. Ashok. SISF presence has been restricted to the data centre and sub load despatch centre in the KSEB HQ building.
