SHILLONG: The Opposition parties have decried the State government over its failure to tackle the power sector that has led to load-shedding, stating that it is a matter of shame for Meghalaya to face such a crisis considering that it had attained statehood 44 years ago.
Terming it as mismanagement by the government, NPP’s James Sangma said, “There is not an iota of doubt that the State government has mismanaged the power sector, be it in terms of transmission, generation or distribution. There is no specific policy to address the power dilemma in the State.”
Asserting that the State has been reeling from power crisis for more than 20 years, he said, “Despite the fact that we are facing power crisis, the government has not been sincere. Solar and wind energy are much cheaper than they used to be eight years ago and the government should have seized the opportunity in a way to supplement the deficit of power. It would have mitigated the problem a bit.”
Commenting on the money spent on programmes like Terra Madre and Panorama Film festival and investment of Rs 2 crore in the Bollywood movie Rock On 2, Sangma said, “Why did the government shy away from paying pending dues? It is shameful. It shows complete mismanagement and incompetence of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma as Finance Minister who has no idea of what economics is.”
On pending power projects, he said, “Poor planning is the cause of pending projects. As Chief Minister, he (Mukul) has not been serious to deal with the issue.”
UDP member Bindo Lanong, who questioned the government’s decision to resort to load-shedding, was also of the same view as James. “It is a matter of shame for Meghalaya. There has been a serious problem on the part of the government to address the power scenario.”
Raising doubts over several power deals, Lanong said, “The government is duty-bound to clarify (its position on) the power deals and bring out a white paper to let the people know of the position of the power sector in the State.”
Pointing out that there is power theft in and around industrial areas, Lanong said, “Corrupt practices cannot be ruled out. What has the government done about power theft? The leakage of power should have been monitored closely. There seems to be an underhand deal. The government should clarify over the delay in aggregation of power projects and cost escalation and the failure to reach the expected target.”
“The government had recently announced 100 per cent electrification of all households in villages under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. However, it was an empty promise. What happened to that project? We are not getting 50 per cent of the power supply, let alone 100 per cent and now the State is compelled to resort to load-shedding,” he added.
