TURA: The New Tura Development Forum (NTDF) has urged Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and Power Minister James K Sangma to release the pending funds meant for the Ganol Small Hydro Project being undertaken by the MeECL, to make way for its early completion.
The forum recently visited the project site near Chibragre on the outskirts of Tura where various anomalies with regard to work on the project were allegedly unearthed.
“We found that the project was conceived in 2003/2004 and initially administrative approval of Rs. 177.52 crore was accorded by the Government of Meghalaya on May 13, 2008. However, the execution of project works was not started immediately after the approval of the project cost. The MeECL has directed the contractor to proceed with the work only in August, 2014. Thus the execution of project works was started after a gap of more than six years by M/s. Patel Engineering, Mumbai,” the forum said.
‘‘As the execution of works on the project has already been started, the project works continued with the sanctioned amount of Rs.177.52 crores only without getting approval of the revised estimated amounts from the Government. Now, the sanctioned amount of Rs 177.52 crores has already exhausted and about 50% of the works are still remaining to be completed. The MeECL not only was able to complete the works with the money but is also yet to make payments of considerably large amounts for works done by the contractor,” it added.
The forum stated that the project during its conception was scheduled to be completed in 42 months and since work on it started in August 2014, it was to be completed by February 2018.
“The execution of project works was neither started as per the schedule nor completed within the stipulated period. We also learnt that the scheduled time for completion of the Project works has been extended till 31.03.2020. However, if the funds earmarked for the project are not available, it will not be possible for MeECL to complete the project even by March, 2020,” the forum said.
The forum added that had the Ganol Project been completed in the stipulated period, the project being the asset of Garo Hills and the property of the State of Meghalaya would have earned enormous amount of money by way of power tariff which would have added to State revenue to help bring further developments in Garo Hills in particular and the State in general.
Reiterating that power consumers of Garo Hills would get a huge relief if the one and only power generation project becomes functional in the near future, the forum urged both representatives to seriously look into the matter and facilitate the project’s early completion.
