By Dr. Lakhan Kma
The present load shedding of seven hours by the lone power provider, the MeECL, is taking a heavy toll on everyone, thanks to fast-receding water level in Umiam reservoir. I think we should be very thankful to the Meghalaya Government of last 20 years or so for allowing MeSEB (now MeECL) to accumulate an amount of Rs. 473 crores unpaid dues to corporations such as NEEPCO, NTPC, etc. Due to non-payments of their dues, these corporations cannot rescue us in this grave crisis of critical power shortage. Much has been said about the MeECL’s malfunctioning. The lesser said is better in this case. It is run by non-professionals, albeit the technical ones. Similar to many other corporations, boards, etc, of our State, this one is also perfectly placed by the political class with a predisposition to fail. After all it is a Government machinery and in the absence of a steady engine to drive it safely, it is destined to meet with an accident.
Time has come when the general public should demand a white paper on the comprehensive power scenario of Meghalaya that must include total power generated, revenue earned and its utilization in the last 20 years or so. It’s our right to ask the incumbent government as to why the dues were not paid in time to the power suppliers when we, as consumers, have been paying our bills in time for the last 20 years. Consumers have every right to know how much money was collected in the last 20 years from them and where it was utilized. White paper should also be demanded on the total power supplied to industries, revenue generated from these industries and its utilization in the last 20 years. Questions should also be raised on the budgetary allocations for maintaining MeECL for last two decades. The kind of economics followed by successive government that allowed such dues to accumulate is unimaginable. It is shameful that Government have all budgetary provisions to buy luxury vehicles, undertake fruitless foreign trips, etc at the expense of public exchequer but zero provision to pay legitimate dues to power suppliers. I would not be surprised if it comes out that crores of money earned as revenue by MeECL was siphoned off to some unaccounted activities to benefit a few. Perhaps a quick assessment of the wealth accumulated by our politicians and bureaucrats/officers could give us some explanation. A simple comparative statement of their income at the entry level and the present time, taking into account the known monthly emoluments, could give us a fair assessment of wealth accumulated by all means and probably people can get some deserving answers to their woes.
The current doomed power scenario of the State is as a result of faulty leadership cutting across party lines. Of course, the incumbent Congress Government has the obligation of taking the lion’s share of blame since it has ruled the State for an extended period of time. Honestly, we are completely unprepared to deal with this kind of crisis which is perennial. The complete lack of leadership and sensitivity to this issue has been displayed by successive Governments. The first question that we would like to raise is-why there has not been any attempt to ask the Central Government for a one time assistance of say Rs. 500 crores as a special package to clear the power dues. With the Congress Government in the Centre for the last ten years and a slightly lesser term for the Congress Government in the State, was it such a daunting task? This sum of money is equivalent to peanuts for the Central Government if that demand is justified. Or is it that the State Government never approached the Centre for lack of explanation of such dues and the fear of getting exposed of its incompetency? We deserve an answer.
The second point on which the government failed to provide a planned direction is the over-dependency on hydro power. Why has there not been any concrete approach on setting up a coal-based thermal plant, say in Jaintia Hills, where there is an abundance of coal, to cater to the need of the entire State? Yes, there are environmental concerns, which have to be addressed in a scientific manner. But a counter argument would be- are the rat hole mining of coal and several cement factories doing less damage to environment and public and benefitting only a few in Jaintia Hills presently? Or it is better have the same quantum of environmental problem which would benefit the entire State. Let me give an example to support my argument. Presently, NTPC generate power mainly from coal and gas. It has an installed capacity of 43019 MW and it is the largest power generating major in the country. Out of all the Power Stations run by NTPC in India, 15 of them are coal based, 7 are gas/liquid fuel based and only 2 are hydro based. Obviously, there is the expertise in this country to set up and run coal based power plants through systemic planning, then why not here? These fossil fuelled power plants use a steam turbine generator. When coal is used for electricity generation, it is usually pulverised and then burned in a furnace with a boiler. The furnace heat converts boiler water to steam, which is then used to spin turbines which turn generators and create electricity. By-products will be generated during power generation and therefore, by-products of power plant operation need to be considered in both the design and operation. Solid waste ash from coal-fired boilers has to be removed. The ash generated can be re-used for building materials. It is also to be noted that about 40% of the world’s electricity comes from coal. Clearly, there is no reason why we should shy away from thermal power stations. If only the limited resources of the State were spent in exploring the possibility of thermal plant in the State rather than seemingly fruitless foreign trips in the years gone-by, we could have avoided these days of grim power shortage.
Even if one doubts the feasibility and viability of the proposition of setting up a coal based thermal plant in Meghalaya, it still does not justify Government’s apathy toward the issue of power deficit that has been lingering on for decades. It should have either generated enough revenue or saved enough to pay the yearly dues for the power purchases from various corporations, knowing fully that the general public are not the defaulters. I have not heard of any dues on perks and privileges of the so-called elite political class during these periods. Every time, it is the general public who have to provide the cushion for the comfort for their ‘chosen ones’ and never the other way round.
It is the right time that the incumbent Government comes clean on the issue of power shortage. It has to stop making tall claims of abundance of power to fool the general public and come out with concrete plans to tackle it. Government’s apathy towards genuine public causes has brought several governments across the globe to dust in recent times. Time is of the essence for the Government to come out with comprehensive plan to deal with the power shortage before people take to the streets with their demands cutting across all barriers, in unison. Unless something is done immediately, we are all doomed to be coerced to ‘darkness’ in days, months and years to come.
(The author teaches at NEHU and can be reached at [email protected]).
