SHILLONG: A “fishy” connection has emerged after the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) executed a project to augment fish ponds and hatcheries at Umsning, Ri-Bhoi.
The cost of the project was Rs 2 crore and it was dubbed as “unfruitful” expenditure by the Public Accounts Committee of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
The PAC termed the expenditure as unfruitful since they were informed that the ponds were leaking and the 30 lakh fingerlings were not found. There was an aim to increase the production to 50 lakh from 30 lakh fingerlings.
The project is under a scheme called the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY). In an interesting revelation, member of the PAC, HM Shangpliang, said the Fisheries Department was all along oblivious to the project taken up by the MeECL.
He said, “This money was sanctioned by the Agriculture department under the RKVY. From the RKVY fund, the money was transferred to a farmers’ consortium. The consortium released the money directly to MeECL”.
He went on to inform that the Fisheries department does not have any trace of the money in their book of accounts. “Fisheries department does not know about the Rs 2 crore. This consortium of farmers asked the MeECL to do the work without ) the knowledge of the Fisheries department”, he said.
He said that the Fisheries department was not aware until 98 per cent of the work had been completed and it was alerted to come and inspect the ponds.
Shangpliang said the officials from the department found that the ponds were leaking coupled with sub-standard work.
“There was no retention of water and all the ponds have dried up”, he said adding that there were nine ponds.
The Chairman of the PAC, Charles Pyngrope, said that the MeECL was yet to hand over the project to the Fisheries department and the work executed by them was not up to the standard desired by the department.
He said that the scheme aims to augment production from the existing 30 lakh fingerlings per annum to 50 lakh.
Pyngrope said, “It appears that the project was intended to enhance fish production in the state. The expenditure resulted in the contrary. So we felt it necessary to call the respective departments to find out what could be done to ensure that the unfruitful expenditure is eventually fruitful.”
He said that the PAC will conduct a site inspection on May 26 to check the condition of the ponds as there were reports that at present there are no more ponds. The ponds were washed away or damaged due to poor quality of work by the MeECL.
He added that the future course of action will be decided after the site inspection.
Pyngrope said that the RKVY is to ensure that respective states could be self sufficient in fish production. The expenditure incurred would have given a fillip to the Fisheries department.
30 lakh fingerlings gone
Shangpliang added that the ponds were having 30 lakh fingerlings at the point when it was to be started and the Fisheries department thought that by sanctioning Rs 2 crore, they will augment the production of fish up to 50 lakh.
“Even the 30 lakh fingerlings are no longer there, it is gone. So it is quite serious. At this time of lockdown, when we are all looking for self-sufficiency and self-reliance, the reality is different”, he said.
