Govt awarded power project without calling for tender: HYC
SHILLONG: The Hynni-ewtrep Youth Council (HYC) has opposed the handing over the proposed construction 240 MW Umngot hydro electric project to Jaypee Group, saying that it has flouted the international norms.
“The proposal of the state government to give the project to the company (Jaypee), that too without inviting tender, is highly questionable since the firm has already been given to execute the Kynshi Stage II, which is yet to take off,” HYC general secretary Robert Kharjahrin said here on Monday.
He said if the government felt that the state-owned MeECL can’t execute the project then there should have been bidding process to award the project.
“A 240 MW project is eligible for international bidding,” Kharjahrin said.
Initially, the State government had approved the state-owned MeECL to execute the Umngot hydro electric project, estimated at a cost of Rs.1,853 crore in an area of 390 hectares straddling on both Jaintia Hills and East Khasi Hills districts.
Later, an empowered committee decided to hand over the project to Jaypee Group stating MeECL will not be able to execute the project due to ‘various reasons’.
The HYC also questioned the policy of the State Government to propose several hydel power projects in Khasi and Jaintia Hills.
“We do not find there is any logic to have so many hydel projects in Khasi and Jaintia Hills. We are surprised to see the urgency on the part of the Government to construct dams for generation of power in the various rivers in the region,” HYC president Peter Lawai told newsmen here.
Meanwhile, Kharjahrin also opposed to move of MBOSE to convert Khasi into an elective subject.
According to him in September, 2013 through a notification for class XI and XII converted Khasi into an elective subject.
Kharjarin said that the Council has decided to send a memorandum to the government to make ‘Khasi’ a compulsory subject.
