Former IPS officer A.B. Venkateswara Rao and other members of Centre For Liberty submitting a petition to APSPDCL Chairman L. Siva Sankar at his office in Tirupati on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar
Alleging serious irregularities and a multi-crore corruption in transformer procurement, the members of Centre For Liberty (CFL) submitted a petition to Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (APSPDCL) Chairman and Managing Director Siva Sankar Lotheti, at his office in Tirupati on Thursday.
“Based on documentary evidence, RTI records, inspection reports, and purchase orders, we found that tenders and purchase approvals worth approximately ₹40,000 crore have been manipulated to benefit Shirdi Sai Electricals Private Limited (SSE),” former IPS officer and CFL member A.B. Venkateswara Rao said in the petition.
“A.P. has paid ₹1,19,899 for 25 kVA two-star transformers and ₹1,36,499 for five-star models, while other States — Telangana (₹87,791), Chhattisgarh (₹75,496), and Uttar Pradesh (₹73,101) — paid far less. Earlier in 2017-18, tenders qualified seven companies, but only SSE and Toshiba were eligible, with SSE cornering nearly 90% of all contracts, including ₹505-crore orders in DISCOM alone.”
Mr. Venkateswara Rao urged the APSPDCL chief to conduct immediate forensic audit of all transformer procurements since 2019, and disclose tender documents, purchase orders, and APERC approvals. He also requested to suspend and blacklist the suppliers found violating tender specifications.
The CFL member sought independent technical re-testing of randomly selected transformers by national-level labs such as CPRI or ERDA. He further asked for criminal investigation into the officials and private entities involved, under the Prevention of Corruption Act, to protect the integrity of the State’s power sector and safeguard the public funds.
Published – October 23, 2025 08:20 pm IST
