SHILLONG, March 2: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) has asked the state government to keep the project of “Supply and Installation of Smart Meters and Associated Services” under the Meghalaya Power Distribution Sector Improvement Project in abeyance.
In a memorandum submitted to Power Minister, James Sangma on Tuesday, the HYC said as per its information, the contract of the Rs 232,96,39,343.00 project was allotted to the joint venture of “Satnam Global Infra Projects Ltd, JPM Industries Ltd and Inhemeter Co Ltd” for the supply and installation of around 2,07,015 smart meters in Shillong and other areas.
According to the HYC, the cost of supply and installation of each meter is Rs 9,444.44 (without taxes and provisional sum), which is way higher when compared to other states where the cost of each meter is somewhere around Rs 3,000.
“Why is the cost of these meters in our state two-three times than those in other states?” HYC president, Robertjune Kharjahrin asked. “The consumers are within their rights to be informed of this,” he said.
The pressure group also said that the cost pertaining to the implementation of the project is being funded by the Asian Development Bank as a loan and the MeECL/MPDCL will have to repay it in the near future.
“Don’t you think above and over the already existing liabilities of MeECL/MPDCL to other parties, which often leads to erratic power supply, the government is adding more debts to the MeECL and that also to the tune of Rs 230 crore?” the pressure group questioned.
Stating that it is not clear who will bear the cost of the supply and installation of the smart meters, the HYC said as per records, the project will be implemented in Shillong or East/West Khasi Hills areas, targeting about two lakh consumers in order to reduce the Aggregate Technical & Commercial Losses (AT&C Losses).
“However, as per our knowledge, the higher percentage of AT&C Losses occurred in other districts of the state amounting to about 70-80% thereby causing loss of revenue to the corporations,” the group added.
