Editor,
In her article “Paying the price for bad governance” (ST 25th April 2014) Patricia Mukhim stated that Meghalaya has suffered from bad governance through the decades and I for one would agree with her. The present power crisis in the State is one of the many manifestations of this bad governance. However , the Chief Minister is yet to come out of his “hubris.” He blames everyone but himself for this crisis (Govt mulls two pronged strategy ST 30th April 2014). This hubris made him boast that NEEPCO is duty bound to give us the much needed power and that the state is not ” begging,” when he should have sought for clemency from this organization for the failure of MeECL to clear the pending dues owed to NEEPCo. As far as my knowledge goes the state government has no share in NEEPCO and therefore the latter is not duty bound to oblige us. Alternatively, the Chief Minister may exert political pressure from Delhi to compel NEEPCO to give in. But then we cannot expect to live on political patronage forever without creating opportunities for self sustenance.
One hopes that the CM’s direction to the Power Department to constitute an entity which would be tasked to generate coal based thermal power is not simply tall talk which emanates because of the present power crisis. How come he did not have this vision earlier as the State Power Minister? It is also unfair of him to blame the MeECL for not being able to sustain itself as a corporate body because the Government has always had a strangle-hold on the Corporation as is evident from the fact that a full-fledged professional CEO was never appointed to run MeECL for many years. The state Chief Secretaries have held dual responsibility of heading the MeECL till today.
The news does not mention Mukul Sangma making any statement on the Leshka project which is rather strange because he should realize that the almost complete failure of the newly commissioned Leshka project, despite huge escalated costs is what irks the citizens the most. Moreover, lambasting political parties for protesting against this power crisis is ill-directed because citizens themselves feel that this matter is now beyond politics. The CM even blamed global warming for the adverse the hydrological which in turn affected our hydro projects. This is again tall talk because his claim is not supported with facts. Meghalaya is yet to be seriously affected by climate change. Rapid destruction of the catchments would eventually contribute to global warming. In fact the factors contributing to this environmental destruction are unregulated mining in the catchments. Incidentally, I was shocked by the reports recently that the state government may appeal against the NGT ban on rat hole mining on the plea that the ban may destroy the livelihoods of many. This is a narrow perception of things because the livelihoods of many others who are affected by the harmful effects of mining does not seem to merit consideration. Nor is the threat to the environment due to destructive mining practices, a matter of concern. If the livelihoods of these people is the main concern then this is the time for the CM to test his much touted Basin Development and Livelihoods Program in the coal belts instead of appealing against the ban. The MNREGA and other employment generation programs of other concerned departments can also be roped in. These programs will create durable assets and would help to reclaim the areas affected by coal mining. The coal barons can generously contribute funds to these programs if they care so much for their people. I wonder also how the thousands of illegal immigrants employed in the mining areas will be rehabilitated. But it will surely help to curb influx if these people return to where they came from, because of the ban. Our NGOs who are gung-ho on the ILP but very quiet on the NGT ban may take note of this. Forgive me for digressing from the main themes but this is just to point out the self- interest that drives our leaders. Most importantly it is to make the readers ponder as to why after all the tall claims that coal mining generates so much revenue to the state, we are unable to pay NEEPCO even half of the Rs 379 crores that we owe the Corporation in order for power to be restored. Where has all the revenue gone? Strange indeed!
Yours etc.,
K.L.Tariang
Via email