Load-shedding will end in 24 hrs: Conrad
SHILLONG, Feb 16: The Meghalaya government has said power outage will end in the next 24 hours.
“I am happy to inform you that there will be no load-shedding at all in the next 24 hours. We have discussed it (power outage) with Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) and necessary steps have been taken to ensure that it is completely taken out,” Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said on Tuesday.
Sangma said the Cabinet had cleared a Rs. 1,345-crore loan to be taken by MeECL through the REC. This amount was part of the Centre’s Atma Nirbhar programme availed by all the states and the objective was to enable the state companies to pay the power generation companies such as NEEPCO and NTPC the dues accumulated over the years. Meghalaya had run up a bill of Rs. 1,345 crore inclusive of late charges. This amount would be released in two tranches of Rs. 672.86 crore each.
Sangma said the REC has approved the first instalment, of which Rs. 336.34-crore has already been released to the generation companies directly. “Rs. 127 crore was paid to NEEPCO, Rs. 144 crore to NTPC, Rs. 25 crore to PGCIL and Rs. 14 crore to NHPC,” he added.
The Chief Minister said the state has been experiencing seven-hour load-shedding because of power regulation by the PGCIL, a transmission company, and not by the generating agencies. The government discussed the issue with PGCIL for a way forward, he said.
Sangma pointed out that MeECL has gone through many challenges for years and there have been efforts to strengthen and restructure it, but outstanding and erroneous bills have been an issue.
“If we want MeECL to become healthy again and supply power regularly, we need to ensure that bills are paid on time,” he said in his appeal to the consumers.
“We are undergoing the process of providing smart meters and this will ensure proper billing,” Sangma said, adding that such meters would also be an insurance against tampering.
Cabbies call off indefinite strike
Govt cuts fuel prices by over Rs 5
SHILLONG, Feb 16: In a major relief to citizenry, the agitating commercial vehicle operators called off their 14-day strike on Tuesday, just hours after the state government announced an additional rebate of around Rs 5 on fuel prices.
Given that the prices of both petrol and diesel were slashed by Rs 2 a litre recently, there will now be an overall reduction of Rs 7.
The Meghalaya Joint Action Committee of Commercial Vehicles (MJACCV) announced that local taxis and other commercial vehicles will be back on the roads from Wednesday.
“We welcome the decision of the government to reduce the price of petrol and diesel by a total of Rs 7.04. We have decided to call off our agitation immediately,” MJACCV member Marbud Dkhar said today.
“The prices of petrol and diesel will be reduced by approximately Rs 7 (adding recent reduction). It will be done primarily to give relief to consumers,” Chief Minister Conrad Sangma told reporters earlier in the day.
He said the value-added tax (VAT) on fuel had immensely helped the state government during the difficult months of COVID-19 pandemic. The government is facing many financial difficulties, yet it has decided to reduce the VAT on petrol and diesel, he said.
Currently, the prices of petrol and diesel in Shillong are Rs 91.26 and Rs 84.23 a litre respectively. Following reduction, petrol will cost Rs 85.86 and diesel Rs 79.13 a litre.
Stressing on competitive pricing with Guwahati to ensure that sales are not affected, Sangma said, “We are hopeful that sales will go up following the cut in the prices and we will be able to make up for the losses in taxes.”
He believed the overall revenue from VAT on fuel will go up from Rs 326 crore earned last year to at least Rs 470 crore this year. He said it would have been more if the government had not decided on reducing VAT.
Stating that it has been a difficult financial year, he said the government had got some relief through the collection of VAT and excise duties. He said the government will examine all possible ways, such as luxury tax etc, to increase revenue in the future.
“A few months back, we had included 10 to 14 items for cess and it will help raise at least Rs 70 crore. With that money, we will be able to build some 200 schools,” the CM said.