BHUBANESWAR: Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Srikant Jena today demanded a court-monitored SIT probe and a special audit by a third party into the multi-crore scam in the power sector in Odisha.

Addressing newsmen here, Jena squarely held Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik responsible for the major power scam in the state running into Rs.50,000 crore and questioned the role of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for not protecting the interest of the poor consumers of the state.

The senior Congress leader said the OERC has become a corrupt club of retired officers in the state who had served the interest of the distribution companies at the cost of the poor consumers.

The OERC, Jena further said, is answerable to the people of the state why they should pay high tariffs in comparison to other states and national capital Delhi despite the fact that Odisha is a power surplus state where electricity is cheaper.

He also questioned the appointment of one IAS officer holding an office of power department, Chairman of OPGC, Chairman of GRIDCO, Chairman of OPTL and also administrators of Distribution companies in the state.

"This clearly indicates that there is a big nexus between the power distribution companies, intensive power consumers and the government officials," he accused.

Jena said the transmission and distribution loss in Odisha is as high as 41 per cent, highest in the country, and the distribution companies are earning huge profit without investing a single rupee in the power infrastructure development.