By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: With the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) fast turning out to be a ‘white elephant’, Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma on Friday asserted that the Corporation was in need of a major revamp to transform it into a profit making entity.
“The MeECL has failed to live up to its expectations. It is time for the Corporation to infuse the corporate mindset. This is the only way out to turn MeECL into a profit earning agency,” Dr Sangma said while replying to a question raised by UDP legislator Paul Lyngdoh during Question Hour in the Assembly on Friday.
While strongly criticizing the lobby prevailing within the MeECL, he said that whenever there is any new power project proposed in the State, there is a lobby that the same should be handed over to the MeECL.
“This lobby is being spurred by some vested interests. But I feel people’s interests should always be above the interest of the employees,” the Chief Minister said.
Dr Sangma also said that the Government had to bail out the MeECL from financial instabilities on numerous occasions.
He said that the Corporation’s poor financial position is a result of their inability to realize their dues.
“On one of the occasions, the Government had tried to help the MeECL to get some loans from financial institutions. Surprisingly, none of the financial institutions agreed to provide the loan due to the Corporation’s poor track record,” the Chief Minister said, adding that the Government had to finally intervene to prevent any further crisis.
“The MeECL had huge outstanding dues to be paid to various Central power generating PSUs like NEEPCO, NTPC and NHPC which it had failed to clear on time. We are also losing a huge rebate which the State would have received if they had cleared the bills on time,” he said.
Earlier, Power Minister Clement R Marak informed that MeECL has outstanding dues of Rs 244.48 crore to be paid to the Central PSUs.
UDP legislator Paul Lyngdoh wanted to know why the Government was paying double the amount in purchasing power from private players as compared to power purchased from the Central PSUs.
“The Government is paying Rs 2.78 per unit to Central PSUs like NEEPCO. However, it is paying an amount of Rs 4.75 per unit for purchasing power from private power developers like Global Energy, Delhi,” the UDP legislator said.
In reply, the Power Minister said that the Government has to resort to this bilateral purchase of power during the lean season to avoid any kind of load shedding especially during the winter season and during examinations.
The UDP legislator also suggested that the Government should appoint technocrats instead of bureaucrats to head the MeECL.