Editor,
The controversy regarding the appointment of Mr. AG West Kharkongor as CMD, NEEPCO, continues perhaps with valid reasons. I have close friends working in NEEPCO and am alarmed at these developments.It is learnt that on taking over office, he immediately gave his first cousin brother Mr. Malcolm David Roy charge of three important offices – Corporate Planning Department, Corporate Finance Department and Corporate Monitoring Department. These offices were always held by three separate Executive Directors. In 2009, when he was appointed as Director (Finance), Mr Malcolm Roy was transferred to another Wing from Finance, perhaps to remove any scope of manipulation by members of a close family. Another close relative of his wife Mr. M.S. Jyrwa is the Executive Director of project operations. This gives rise to the fear of manipulations so common and famous in our State. I have learnt that senior officers of NEEPCO are not happy with the same since these were done by delaying the promotions of other eligible senior officers. The above three officers will retire by 2019 and there is no other senior Khasi officer eligible to take their place. The local employees are learned to be very unhappy with the functioning of Mr Kharkongor since his taking over considering the future implications. The letter from one Arunachal citizen in your esteemed daily of the Nov 7, 2016 is a wake- up call and deserves to be seriously contemplated by both these officers and KSU. Is such an attitude good or fair for the image of our people? Will it be in the interest of our people and State if the HQ of NEEPCO is shifted to Itanagar?
Yours etc.,
G Nonglait,
Via email
Demonetisation, good or bad?
Editor,
Much has been written and discussed about demonetisation in the press and social media but none of us are in a position to know what exactly the impact would be on the economy. Even the RBI Governor, Urjit Patel wants to avoid publicity to the point that social media began to list him as a ‘missing person.’ The queues at ATMs and banks continue and people are feeling a great deal of inconvenience but for altruistic reasons they seem willing to rough it out. Today your paper reported that the cash crunch would ease before Christmas according to the State Bank of India. We have to wait and watch for there is a huge gap between statements made and actions on the ground. The best place for this issue to have been discussed is the parliament. We could have listened to questions from the opposition benches and replies from no less a person than the one who first gave us the shocking news of demonetisation – Our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. But parliament has been disrupted throughout this entire session. We wonder what has happened to our democracy. If critical issues are not debated in parliament that what is the purpose of a representative democracy? The answer usually given by the Congress party MPs is that the BJP did the same while in the opposition. But two wrongs don’t make a right and MPs cannot take out their private frustrations by disallowing parliament from functioning.
There are all kinds of speculations that the Demonetisation effort has actually failed to achieve its objectives since almost about 85% of cash has returned to the exchequer till date. More is likely to be deposited by Dec 30. So are the gains nil? I would like to believe that political parties which actually hoard cash are affected. So too the black money hoarders! Demonetisation will affect elections in UP and Manipur. Let us wait and watch the real impact on the economy which we are told is likely to slow down and suffer a recession which will take seven years to recover. There are different economic theories floating around and it depends which side of the divide the economists are on. Bibek Deb Roy for instance believes all is good. But Amartya Sen calls this a financial emergency. Ordinary citizens are left wondering. How long will they take this rationing of money from their own accounts?
Yours etc.,
GR Nongrum,
Via email