State owes Rs 398.27 cr to NEEPCO
SHILLONG: Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said that the current outstanding dues of NEEPCO as on date is Rs 398.27 crore, inclusive of a delayed payment surcharge amounting to around Rs 100.00 crore.
“Due to the huge outstanding dues, NEEPCO was compelled to regulate the power entitlement of the State from its various power generating stations,” Sangma said while replying to the cut motion moved by Nongthymmai legislator Jemino Mawthoh during the current Winter Assembly session on Wednesday.
He said that this power regulation by NEEPCO has severely affected the power availability in the State and Meghalaya Power Distribution Corporation Limited (MePDCL) was compelled to impose load shedding for 4 -6 hours from February 2, 2014.
“To meet the power short fall, MePDCL started to purchase power from the power exchange grid from April 11, 2014, but had to discontinue on April 22, 2014 due to fund constraints. This aggravated the power availability due to which MePDCL was compelled to extend the period of load shedding between 9 to 11 hours from April 23, 2014 onwards,” the Chief Minister said.
In view of the regulations imposed by NEEPCO, he said that the State Government intervened and sanctioned Rs 90 Crore as subsidy for power purchase 2014-15 on May 6, 2014.
On receipt of the above subsidy, the Chief Minister informed that Rs 30 Crore was paid to NEEPCO as part payment on May 7 and NEEPCo reciprocated by withdrawing the power regulation the following day.
He said that the Government then paid another Rs 20 crore to NEEPCO on June 10, 2014.
“A month later, the Government again paid another Rs 20 crore to the Corporation. The Government finally paid Rs 20 crore in August 10. The total amount paid by the Government is Rs 90 crore,” Sangma said.
Furthermore, he said that MePDCL made payments amounting to Rs 18.10 Crore from October 2014 till date to NEEPCO. “The MePDCL is also procuring power from other central generating stations (CGS). Payments are being made to these utilities, but in view of the fund constraints it has not been possible to clear all the dues. However, no payments have been made to NHPC and it had imposed power regulation of 12.51 MW from 23.01.2014, due to non-payment of its outstanding due,” the Chief Minister said.
According to him, the inability of MePDCL to liquidate the dues pertaining to power procurement is primarily due to fund constraints.
“Moreover, in the previous years in view of inadequate rains, generation from the State generating stations was considerably less. This compelled the Corporation to procure power from more expensive sources to avoid load shedding, particularly during the examination period and Assembly elections and thus burdening it with additional power dues.
Meanwhile, he said that in view of the generation within the State and availability from the Central Generating Stations, the power availability position of MePDCL has greatly improved at present.
Earlier, Mawthoh had questioned the policy of the State Government in continuing to back the MeECL in its crisis.
“As a Corporation the MeECL is expected to be self-reliant, but sadly every time the Government has to bail out the MeECL from the crisis,” he said, adding that the State Government was taking the people of the State for a ride and the worst sufferer are the domestic users due to the mal-functioning of the MeECL.
He said that the present power crisis in the State was due to the failure of the Government to have a backup plan to address it. “The Government had invested large amounts of funds on the Myntdu-Leshka Hydel Electric Project which has failed to improve the power scenario in the State,” Mawthoh said.
While the Government had been boasting of their plans in terms of power generation, Mawthoh said that the present situation proved otherwise.
Five foreign trips by CM
SHILLONG: Chief Minister Mukul Sangma informed the State Assembly on Wednesday that of the 15 official foreign trips made by him, Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries during 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, he had made five of these trips.
Replying to queries during Question Hour, Sangma said that three of the 15 foreign trips were made by the ministers while the remaining seven were made by the parliamentary secretaries.Giving details of these foreign trips with locations and dates, the Chief Minister informed that Social Welfare Minister Deborah Marak along with Parliamentary Secretary Kennedy C Khyriem visited to Nanchang, China between June 1 to 3, 2013.
The Chief Minister himself visited Johannesberg, South Africa from July 27 to August 4, 2013, Bratislova, Slovakia from November 2-6, 2013.
Sangma informed that Kennedy Khyriem visited Dubai, UAE from May 5 to 8, 2014 and Health and Family Welfare Minister, AL Hek visited Stockholm, Sweden from June 2 to5, 2014.
He further informed that Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, Zenith M Sangma along with Parliamentary Secretary Limison D Sangma visited Yangon, Myanmar with effect from July 23- 24, 2014.
The Chief Minister informed that he along with Kennedy Khyriem and Parliamentary Secretary Robin Syngkon visited Dhaka, Bangladesh from August 23 to 24, 2014.
The Chief Minister along with Parliamentary Secretaries Dr Celestine Lyngdoh and Sengman Marak visited Paris, France from October 19 to 24, 2014.
Meanwhile, he said that information on expenditure incurred during these visits was being collected.