Gamlin sought ‘guarantee’ of Rs 11,000 crore loan to Reliance

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday accused Shakuntala Gamlin, who was recently appointed acting Chief Secretary by Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Najeeb Jung, of favouring Reliance Group’s power companies and claimed that she wanted to trick the government into signing documents that would give Rs 11,000 crore to these <g data-gr-id="75">discoms</g>. He alleged that Gamlin was hell-bent to get the signature of Power Minister Satyendra Kumar Jain on a ‘guarantee letter’ in the guise of ‘comfort letter’ to secure the loan from banks.

“Had the Power Minister signed the ‘guarantee letter’ and in future Reliance refused to repay the loan to the banks, it would have been the responsibility of the people of Delhi to pay Rs 11,000 crore to the banks. It would have increased power bills in the city two to three times,” said Kejriwal, addressing auto-rickshaw drivers at the AutoSamwaad Rally in Burari.

“Why was she made the Chief Secretary, even after such a strong protest by us? It creates a doubt if they want any wrong work to be done by her in the next 10 days,” said Kejriwal. To the CM’s question if such a bureaucrat should have been made the Chief Secretary of Delhi, the crowd replied in a thundering ‘no’.

Kejriwal promised that he would keep a tab on Gamlin’s activities and not let her do anything wrong in the next 10 days of her tenure. “I will keep a tab on each and every file moved by her. Till I am here, I will not let her do any wrong work,” he said.

The Chief Minister added that his government had opposed Gamlin’s appointment, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Narendra Modi government at the Centre made her the acting Chief Secretary. 

He further alleged that the Centre wanted the Delhi government to fail.

Kejriwal said, “The power secretary came to my Power Minister and asked him to sign a letter. When he enquired about it, she said it was just a ‘comfort letter’ to secure Rs 11,000-crore loan for power companies from banks. 

When the minister asked what this ‘comfort letter’ meant, she replied that it was just a formality, but the minister refused to sign it.” He added that the officer kept pursuing the minister to sign the letter for 10-15 days.

“When the minister <g data-gr-id="70">enquired</g> about the letter through his sources, it was found that it was not a comfort letter but a ‘guarantee’ to the banks for Rs 11,000-crore loan to Reliance-owned power companies (BSES Yamuna and BSES Rajdhani). The secretary had approached the minister to get a ‘guarantee letter’ signed for these power companies. My minister was intelligent not to sign the letter,” he said.

It’s worth mentioning that Gamlin, a 1984 batch IAS officer, took over as Delhi’s acting chief secretary, even <g data-gr-id="71">afteraggressive</g> protest by the Kejriwal government.