Days after saying Modi pushed Adani deal, Sri Lankan electricity chief quits
Colombo, Jun 13: A top Sri Lankan official, who claimed before a parliamentary panel that Prime Minister Narendra Modi allegedly influenced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to award a wind power project to the Adani Group in this island nation, resigned on Monday, a day after retracting his earlier statement.
The resignation of MMC Ferdinando, the chairman of state-owned power entity Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), has been accepted, energy minister Kanchana Wijesekara said on Monday.
Ferdinando, during a hearing of the Committee On Public Enterprises (COPE) on Friday, said that President Rajapaksa had summoned him after a meeting in November last year and told him that the wind power project be awarded to the Adani Group of India's billionaire Gautam Adani as Prime Minister Modi had urged him to do so.
However, President Rajapaksa on Saturday categorically denied Ferdinando's statement before the parliamentary panel.
Rajapaksa tweeted: I categorically deny authorisation to award this project to any specific person or entity .
On Sunday, Ferdinando wrote to the COPE chair in Parliament Professor Charitha Herath that he was withdrawing his comment, saying it had been done under stress, and that he was not influenced by either President Rajapaksa or the Indian High Commission here to retract it.
There was no immediate reaction from the Government of India on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Adani Group issued a statement on Monday on the controversy, saying: "Our intent in investing in Sri Lanka is to address the needs of a valued neighbour. As a responsible corporate, we see this as a necessary part of the partnership that our two nations have always shared".
We are clearly disappointed by the detraction that seems to have come about. The fact is that the issue has already been addressed by and within the Sri Lankan Government, a Spokesperson of the Adani Group said in the statement.
The 500 MW wind power plant by the Adani Group in Mannar caused a storm when the CEB engineers threatened to strike over the government's amendment to the CEB Act of 1989.
The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya leader Sajith Premadasa has threatened to take Ferdinando to the parliamentary privileges committee for lying.
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Two officials booked in UP; for showing elderly man dead, missing file
Ballia (UP) (PTI): Police registered separate cases against a village development officer and an assistant accountant for showing an elderly dead and disposing of a file related to documents of staff, respectively, an official said on Thursday.
In the first case, an FIR has been lodged at Bhimpura police station against the then village development officer (secretary), Savita, on charges of falsely showing an elderly man as dead during a verification, leading to the stoppage of his old-age pension.
According to police, a case was registered on Wednesday, based on the complaint of Assistant Development Officer Siyar block, Manoj Kumar Singh, under Section 198 (public servant disobeying law with intent to cause injury to any person) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The complainant alleged that Umashankar, a resident of Govindpur Dubauli village, was shown dead despite being alive, resulting in the discontinuation of his pension.
District Magistrate Mangala Prasad Singh ordered the registration of a case against the verification officer, police said.
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Police are probing the matter, Rasra Circle Officer Alok Gupta said.
In a separate incident, an FIR has been registered at Ballia city Kotwali against Manish Kumar Ojha, assistant accountant at Kasturba Gandhi Residential Girls’ School, Belhari, under Section 316(4) (criminal breach of trust) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The case was registered based on the complaint of the District Basic Education Officer Manish Kumar Singh, police said.
According to the complainant, the assistant accountant had allegedly made files related to discrepancies in PAN cards of some teachers and staff working in government-run council schools in the district go missing.
Police officials said investigations are underway in both cases.
