The chief of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) in Sri Lanka told a parliamentary panel two days ago that Narendra Modi had pressured Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to award a 500 MW wind power project to Gautam Adani. Earlier he claimed that this was told to him by Rajapaksa. However, later issuing a statement, he has said that he had become emotional in the meeting, due to which he lied. He is taking back what he has said about Modi.
Ceylon Electricity Board chief MCC Ferdinando testified before a parliamentary panel that he was told by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa that PM Modi had pushed for a 500 MW wind energy project to the Adani Group. He appeared in Parliament on Friday in the hearing of the Public Enterprises Committee.
When his statement created a ruckus, Rajapaksa said in a tweet on Saturday that in relation to the statement of the Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board in the hearing of the Parliamentary Committee regarding the award of a wind power project in Mannar. He is not in favor of giving this project to any specific person or organization. He is sure that responsible statement will be given in this matter.
According to a report, Gautam Adani had gone to Sri Lanka last year. He tweeted that I had the privilege of meeting President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Apart from developing Colombo Port’s Western Container Terminal, the Adani Group will work on other infrastructure partnerships.
There has been an uproar in the Sri Lankan Parliament as well. The opposition alleged that the 1989 Act was amended at a government-to-government level to build a 500 MW wind power plant in the North Coast with the participation of the Adani Group. The opposition party SJB wanted projects above 10 MW capacity to be auctioned. But most of the government’s lawmakers voted against it.