SHILLONG, March 15: The opposition bid to move a privilege motion against Chief Minister Conrad was rejected by the Assembly after an intense debate on the merit of the case.
The motion was turned down by voice vote after Sangma rebutted the points raised by Congress MLAs.
The breach of privilege motion was moved by the opposition against Sangma for allegedly misleading the house on NTPC power purchase agreement of 2007.
Moving the motion, Zenith Sangma claimed that the chief minister had misled the House while replying to a pending motion last week.
He pointed out that the chief minister had stated that the state would have to pay an amount of Rs 11 crore per month amounting to Rs 133 crore per year and Rs 3325 crore in the next 25 years to NTPC as a result of the agreement signed in 2007.
According to Zenith this is tantamount to misrepresentation of facts since there is no mention in the agreement that the MeECL would have to pay such a huge amount of money to NTPC. The MLA also maintained that there is an exit clause in the agreement if the MeECL does not want to draw power or is unable to clear the dues.
As per the exit clause, in case of termination of the agreement, the MeECL has to pay fixed charges to NTPC till the time a separate bulk purchaser is engaged, the Congress MLA said.
In reply, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that the MeECL earlier this month received a bill from the NTPC where the fixed charge is Rs 11.8 crore.
Sangma also informed the house that the state government has cleared dues of Rs 100 crore to NTPC and now the outstanding amount stood at Rs 531 crore which is a fixed charge.
“Where is the question of misleading the House?” the CM asked.
He reiterated that the state would have to pay the fixed charge for the next 25 years after the last unit of the Bongaigaon thermal power plant became functional.
As per Sangma, nobody is buying power under the agreement as the rate is high and the government is not finding any consumer to reallocate the power from the plant. The chief minister also took note of the clause that only NTPC can terminate the agreement and even in case of termination of the agreement, the MeECL shall continue to pay the fixed charge, adding that discussion should have been held that time on the terms and conditions of the agreement.
Recalling that the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) came up with new rates in 2016, he said that the state government that time should have raised the matter with CERC but instead the matter was taken up with the Union government which is not the right platform.
Later, Leader of Opposition, Mukul Sangma also tried to justify the agreement saying there is a procedure of paying fixed charges and MeECL even pays the same to NEEPCO. He added that the government can draw the power and sell it to industries.
Zenith again justified the agreement saying it was passed as per the Central Electricity Act, 2003.
The House also saw a heated exchange when the chief minister took note of the fact that the member was again going into the discussion of the agreement.
As the Congress MLA declined to withdraw the motion, the Speaker put the question before the House and the motion was rejected through voice vote.
Soon Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Prestone Tynsong also stood up and said that since there is not ground for the complaint, the complainant (Zenith Sangma) should be charged Rs 500 as per rule 173 of the Rules and Procedures and Conduct of Business of the Assembly.