SHILLONG, Dec 4: Tearing through the latest clarification of Power Minister James Sangma on various allegations levelled against the Power department, Leader of the Opposition Congress, Mukul Sangma said on Friday that it was a fabricated story. He said instead of beating about the bush, the government should institute a thorough probe into the mess.
To prove his point about manipulation, he questioned that if everything was alright why an aggrieved party has challenged the decision in the court for adjudication.
Dismissing outright the reply furnished by the Power Minister, he said, “They are trying to beat around the bush and somehow unwilling to face the truth but it will not change the fact”.
Questioning the figures as far as pricing and other things are concerned including the available market price, the approved price and the rate at which the contract was awarded, Mukul said, “The whole process of tendering itself was alleged to have been manipulated that is why the aggrieved party has gone to the court; it is on record. While the case was pending before the court they have also before the disposal of the case from the MeECL side furnished some facts in their affidavit before the court. These are all available”.
Mukul said that they are not making allegations but it is an attempt to draw the attention of the government to correct things. “But what we see is that there is no intention of the government to correct things; they still want to defend what is indefensible,” he said.
Referring to the ongoing protest of the MeECL employees, Mukul said, “Look at the demands coming from the employees. They have also demanded for stopping all the irregularities and some have even asked for CBI inquiry”.
“It is not only coming from any political party but also from the employees themselves who know exactly what is happening in the organisation,” he added.
Talking about the Saubhagya scheme, the Leader of the Opposition said, “As far as Saubhagya is concerned they are trying to drag the Government of India by saying that they have been given a clean chit. What is this? Are they trying to say that whatever was done was actually at the behest of the Government of India? What are they trying to interpret? I couldn’t understand that everything was approved under the Government of India.”
Stating that Saubhagya guidelines clearly indicate that lots of scope for flexibility has been vested upon the state government itself, Mukul said, “Are they trying to give a wrong perception to the people of the state that what was done was correct because it was approved by the Government of India?
“Under what circumstances these approvals have taken place will come out only when there is an investigation. What was the kind of interpretation furnished before the concerned ministry and what are the approvals?” he observed.
Reacting to the statement of the Power Minister that the then Congress regime did not do much about the Saubhagya Scheme even after it was launched, the Leader of the Opposition said, “The Saubhagya scheme was launched in September 2017 but they are saying the scheme was there for a long time and nothing was done.”
“What about the data which is reflective of how many households are electrified and covered by electricity connections and how many are left out? Those data were made available by the then government and it is a continuous process. Based on that data whatever proposals were submitted before the Government of India led to the subsequent decision which is a culmination of those exercise,” he said.
He further said that they have dealt with all these and for everything including smart metering during his time they gave separate allocation to MeECL to start the smart metering system not on loan basis but as a grant. “These are initiatives which ultimately made MeECL look at the best option available,” he said.
On smart metering system, the Leader of the Opposition said, “You don’t have to borrow and create liabilities for MeECL. There are various mechanisms for attracting investment in the power sector without having to spend a single paisa from the government coffer”.
“They don’t have to coach me. In fact it was during my time the power policy was adopted when I was Deputy CM in-charge of Power and it was during my time that a number of power projects were actually shortlisted and awarded to various potential developers,” he added.
Taking a pot shot at Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, the Leader of the Opposition said, “It was these people who during the time of Conrad Sangma as a Power Minister cancelled everything and politicised the power sector and today MeECL is bleeding otherwise it would have been a profit making organisation.
“Because of their shortsightedness and petty politics in 2008-09 they took a decision which has ultimately crippled the MeECL,” he added.