SHILLONG: The Opposition Congress has slammed the state government for taking the easiest path of seeking a massive loan of Rs 1345.72 crore to clear all dues of Meghalaya Power Distribution Corporation Limited (MePDCL) without addressing the core issues that have afflicted the power scenario in the state.
Addressing newsmen here on Monday, Congress Spokesperson Zenith Sangma accused the NPP-led coalition of neglecting repair of turbines which have been out of order for months leading to financial loss and shortfall in power generation. He said that taking such a huge loan would only benefit the lenders since they would be getting back their money with huge interest bonanza.
Sangma, who is also the former power minister, believes that it is the holding company MeECL which would face the burden as the MePDCL would have to pay the interest of 9.5 per cent on the loan, adding that, the MePDCL at the same time will have to pay the interest of more than Rs 10 crore per month from the day it receives the loan amount till the completion of three years and after three years it will have to start giving repayment of the principal money along with the interest for another seven years.
It may be mentioned that the Meghalaya Cabinet on August 14 last had approved the loan amount of Rs 1345.72 crores to help the MePDCL to clear all its outstanding dues of the through the loan to be taken from the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and the Power Finance Corporation (PFC).
Asking the state government to rather increase the efficiency of the MeECL and try to make itself sustainable, Sangma said that the management of the MeECL at present is in complete mess.
Citing an example, he said that one of the machines of both stage III and state IV of the Umiam Hydro Electricity Project having the generating capacity of 30 MW each have been out of order and it is not generating power for the last one year.
“The two machines were expected to generate 7,20,000 units per day and now the monetary loss on a single day will be around Rs 26 lakh,” he said adding that the financial loss to the MeECL will be around Rs 10.08 crore in a month.
He said that the total financial loss which has been incurred will be more than Rs 100 crore for failing to restore machines of the stage III and state IV for the past one year.
Pointing out that it is a big question as to why the company was not able to restore the two machines, he questioned Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, Power Minister James PK Sangma and the management of the MeECL on the amount which will be required to restore these two machines.
“The government would have required an investment between Rs 15 crore to Rs 20 crore for repairing of the two machines and we would not have landed in a financial loss of more than Rs 100 crore if they had taken the initiative to restore the two machines,” he said.
The Congress leader also lamented that another machine of Myntdu-Leshka Hydro Project has been out of order since July 21 and this has incurred the MeECL as financial loss of Rs 25 lakh per day.
Sangma further questioned why the management of the MeECL failed to restore the machine which has incurred a huge loss to the State exchequer and to the company and in turn putting a huge financial burden on the state government.
Meanwhile, he said that the reasons which led to this kind of poor management is due to weakness in the leadership and may be due inexperience in the leadership who is heading the MeECL.
“The company leadership is very weak since a very junior officer who is just in the rank of joint secretary has been made as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the MeECL. This has never happened before. Prior to this, very senior IAS officers not less in the rank of the Principal Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary and sometimes the Chief Secretary himself occupy the post of the CMD. But now surprisingly a very junior officer at the rank of joint secretary is heading a company worth Rs 2000 crore with 4000 employees,” the Congress spokesperson said.
“Without reasonable doubt there is something fishy going on in the MeECL. The chief minister has not initiated the process to appoint a full-fledged CMD even after his assurance on the floor of the House,” the Congress spokesperson stated.
He further questioned how the same officer who is holding the post of the CMD could also hold the position of Director of Corporate Affairs and Director of Finance in the same company.
He said that the decision of the government to keep the same person in different positions is affecting the morale of the senior officers of the MeECL and there is a mala fide intention behind this decision of the government.
The government must be doing this in connivance with some of the businesses because it reflected even during the allotment of certain tenders works,” the Congress spokesperson said.
Referring to the tenders of the Saubhagya scheme, he said that the major chunk of the tenders work for the Saubhagya Scheme was awarded to the companies based from Mumbai and Delhi.
“The two companies got 70 per cent of the work and that too 50 per cent above the schedule of rates,” he said.
Sangma however said that 30 per cent of the total quantum of work which were given to the local contractors were awarded as per the schedule of rates adding that this is a grave injustice to the local contractors.