Solar fiasco is one of the reasons why Oommen Chandy-led UDF government failed to get continuity in governance. Solar scam that shook Kerala demonstrated what would happen if a good project that should have benefitted people reach the hands of people with selfish interests.

Those who shared the benefits of the scam are still leading a normal life in society.

Science turned towards undepletable source of Solar energy when the world came to a situation when traditional sources of energy could no more be depended upon completely.

Solar projects will be the major source of energy in the future. In India also solar sector has the most important position in projects related to unconventional sources of energy.

The big achievement of Kochi international airport in Kerala has opened up new avenues for solar energy among the commoners too. By installing solar panels on roof top of houses, the whole current for domestic purposes can be derived from them. It is after foreseeing this possibility that the Centre’s Department of Power & Non-Conventional Energy Sources ventured into developing solar projects, giving huge subsidies.

Many states are reaping its benefits but in Kerala the project earned a bad reputation after people started relating it to corruption and fraud. ANERT’s solar projects made its appearance before the public at a time when they started forgetting old dirty solar stories. Certain private companies are also the stake holders.

If the public is taken for a ride even after ANERT was given the charge to implement the Solar project, it points fingers at serious flaws.

The energy requirement of an ordinary house is 3 kilo watt.

For solar panel installation, the Centre gives 30 per cent subsidy and State gives 10 per cent. In Kerala, the subsidised charge demanded by ANERT for installing 3 Kilowatt solar panel is Rs 1:35 lakh. In Gujarat, the amount is just Rs 81,430. In Kerala a customer has to pay Rs 53,570 more. By now, ANERT has sold solar panels to more than 1200 customers, generating an income of about Rs 16 crore.

As per the Centre’s instruction the maximum price for installation should be Rs 1.80 lakh. After Central and State subsidies, the roof top solar panels should have been installed at the cost of Rs 1.08 lakh. But in the Kerala, customers had to pay Rs 1.35 lakh.

The Centre’s instruction was undermined after ANERT handed over the project to private companies that have been functioning with business motives. This flaw turned beneficial to those agencies.

When there was specific instruction from the Centre that the cost of installation of solar panels at a house should not exceed Rs 1.80 lakh, ANERT gave permission to private companies to charge Rs 2.26 lakh.

Through this, they could illegally pocket about Rs 4 crore. The seriousness of the case is that a government agency itself happened to side with private agencies to cheat the public

An ANERT project department representative is now saying that there was flaw in tendering procedures and it would be soon resolved.
This could only be seen as a natural reaction when a scam is exposed.

When everything will be set right in the future, steps should also be taken to pay back that extra amount charged illegally from customers. But it is well known that retrieving money from agencies would be difficult since they are all private agencies.

There are several such projects divert customers’ benefits to the pockets of middlemen. There will be people with vested interests in the scene to make all projects with subsidy an opportunity for swindling money. People will lose faith in such projects when institutions like ANERT deemed to be agencies functioning without profit motive are party to anomaly.

Malayalis are in the habit of accepting any innovative projects wholeheartedly. And it was unexpectedly that the Solar bomb exploded, following which those who came forward first to accept it backtracked.

Now, in the solar deal authored by ANERT, fact-based evaluation has become a necessity as it is the moral responsibility of the government to ensure that the people are not defrauded.