SHILLONG, Nov 18: The Opposition Congress today renewed its stand for an independent inquiry into the alleged anomalies and irregularities amounting to Rs 371 crore in the Power department and maintained that such a probe should not be anything less than a CBI inquiry.
Peeved at ruling coalition’s attempt to stonewall demand for an impartial probe, Congress spokesman Zenith Sangma said at a press conference “people in power, whether it is the CM or council of ministers think that when they are being blamed by the Opposition of being involved in corrupt practices, it should have been their duty to give a clarification by doing independent inquiry.”
Giving an outline, Sangma said, “In Ganol power project – Rs 151 crore, Saubhagya – Rs 180 crore, ADB smart meter supply – Rs 36 crore and in Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana – Rs 4.5 crore. Small or big they are not sparing and it is very dangerous”.
Reiterating that it should not be less than a CBI probe he said that the least the state government could do was order a CBI probe just to tell the people that whatever the opposition has been alleging is wrong. “Do they dare to do that? Never. Had I been in their place I would have definitely given the order for a CBI probe,” he added.
Sangma was persistent in saying that in the power department there has been rampant corruption going on and many anomalies which the Opposition has been highlighting from time to time. On the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded supply of smart meters, Sangma said that a lot of irregularities and anomalies have come to the fore. “The condition in the tender process has been made in such a way wherein only one bidder will qualify. We have found only a single bidder being qualified to execute the work of around Rs 200 crore and that too which is not surprising at all for us it is 18 per cent above the estimated cost”.
He said that if it is 18 per cent above the estimated cost and if the estimated cost is Rs 200 crore, extra Rs 36 crore is being drained out because no competition has been met in the tendering process.
“The tendering was done with ulterior motive so that only single bidder of their choice could be qualified and this is a scam so to say because in fair manner tendering process has to be done wherein lots of companies suppliers would be able to participate and the question of enhancing the original estimated cost amounting to Rs 36 crore would not have been there,” he said.
“When the state is faced with lots of financial crunch and is unable to give salaries of the employees in different sectors, this amount is being drained out because of the fact that the very purpose is to feed the greed of the few,” he added.
Shifting focus to the Deendayal Upadhya Gramin Jyoti Yojna Phase 1 and II, Sangma said that the LOA has been revised by increasing the scope of work and that too without the approval of the funding agency the Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC).
Stating that the state government had agreed to increase around Rs 30 crore extra work, Sangma said, “So, when the question of Rs 30 crore is being enhanced there is state matching fund state CR which means, 85 per cent would be given by the Government of India and 15 per cent will be borne by the state government and if we calculate 15 per cent of the Rs 30 crore it is becoming Rs 4.5 crore in one work upto the tune of Rs 36 crore”.
“Here again Rs 4.5 crore. Everywhere small or big they are not sparing from looting the people of the state,” he added.
Talking about the 22.5 MW Ganol Hydel Project in West Garo Hills, Sangma said that a huge amount of Rs 151 crore had been escalated through revision of the estimates. He said that the issue was taken up by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the subcommittee had visited the Garo hills region for the same beside the issue was raised in the recently concluded Assembly session also.
“This Rs 151 crore has been enhanced in the estimate and on queries the government replied that is was due to some geological surprise. What geological surprise?” Did not the MeECL do the soil testing before making the Detailed Project Report (DPR)?’’ he questioned.
Referring to the reply of the state government in the recently concluded Assembly session, Sangma said, “When this was asked they replied while doing soil testing before the DPR was done it was somehow missed out. Can it be possible? The construction which are required to be done underground was already over and now only the construction of the super structure is left out so how can there be geological surprises. Here also Rs 151 crore are being enhanced”.
On Saubhagya scheme, Sangma said in its implementation for the infrastructure work two companies have been awarded with the work and for the small works service connection works 100 local contractors have been awarded the work and interestingly when the infrastructure component of work has been awarded to two big companies from the outside at 51 per cent above the schedule, while for the 100 local contractors the work was allotted as per the scheduled rate which is same of the same year for all the components of the work.
He therefore questioned when the local contractors were given at par the schedule of rates, why then the two companies should be given above 51% of schedule of rates. He was sanguine that when the price has been increased above the estimated cost, it would involve around Rs 180 crore extra, he reckoned.
Furthermore, he said that there is a lot of mismanagement in MeECL which are yet to be rectified.
“One of the machine of Phase III and IV of the Umiam hydro power project is still not functional thereby incurring a loss of around Rs 36 lakh daily and in one year more than Rs 100 crore the MeECL is losing from its entitlement,” he said.
Stating that it is a matter of concern, Sangma said, “We really condemned the attitude of the government. When we have raised the issues and flagged it before the government, the government is adamant and reluctant to rectify this timely which if rectified timely would have saved hundreds of crores”.
“In just one Power department there is scam after scam. We want justice on this. We demand an independent inquiry into this and if they don’t do when the time comes somebody else would do it and the people who are involved in this criminal conspiracy will have to be booked under the provision of the law of the land,” he added.