Kalikho Pul suicide note points to big scam

New Delhi: Former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Kalikho Pul’s suicide note alleged that the rights to generate hydroelectricity through big dams in the state’s rivers and tributaries were sold off by leading politicians to private builders at high rates, and the money was siphoned off and often used to build palatial houses in major cities like Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru.

Pul, who committed suicide on August 9, 2016, at his government residence in Itanagar, had left behind a 60-page suicide in Hindi titled Mere Vicchar (My Thoughts).

On Page 11, he wrote that the rights for making electricity from rivers were sold off at a rate of Rs 30 lakh per mega watt.

On Friday, Pul’s first wife Dangwimsai Pul wrote to the Chief Justice of India seeking the registration of an FIR on the basis of the allegations of corruption contained in the suicide diary of her late husband, saying “a suicide note is like a dying declaration”.

“I have come to Delhi from Arunachal Pradesh as a last resort as my family and I are being threatened with violence, and otherwise, by the ruling state government,” she had said.

The plan to build a network of 168 dams aiming to generate more than 63,300 MW of power in the state was a controversial one as it had been reported to be in brazen disregard for environmental, seismic, socio-economic and cultural concerns.

In seismic terms, Arunachal Pradesh lies in the “Very High Damage Risk Zone”, having seen 87 major and minor quakes in 67 years.

From 2005 to 2012, an RTI query had revealed that the Arunachal Pradesh government collected Rs 1,333 crore for as many as 199 projects as upfront premium and processing fees. The amounts were paid by different private companies engaged in building the dams.

In 2005, when the state government’s MoU signing spree started, the amount collected as upfront and processing fees was Rs 14.88 crore, while in 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2010-11 and 2011-12, it was Rs 40.72 crore, Rs 347.21 crore, Rs 519.63 crore, Rs 229.16 crore and Rs 181 crore respectively.

A CAG report had slammed the government over a lack of transparency and competitiveness in granting the projects to firms and joint ventures.