SHILLONG, March 17: “Trouble follows me wherever I go. Thing I’m in is just a sack o’woe”.
This popular phrase by Jon Hendricks seems to be apt for Power Minister, James Sangma who is under heavy fire from all quarters over the alleged illegalities in the power sector and to top it all, the frequent load-shedding and the fresh fears of a six-month-long power cut in the state is compounding his woes.
James Sangma is no stranger to controversy. Last year, he lost his Home portfolio owing to relentless pressure from the MDA alliance partners for not being able to contain illegal mining and transportation of coal.
Now, with the MeECL mess growing in proportion, demands are being made to remove Sangma from the Power department.
Recently, opposition leader, Mukul Sangma had demanded that the Power minister be removed in order to revive the MeECL.
Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) on Wednesday maintained that James Sangma should resign for presiding over Meghalaya’s biggest instance of financial irregularity till date.
The group claimed that an astronomical amount of Rs 450.75 crore has been gifted to private companies.
The MeECL mess has also prompted the United Democratic Party, an important ally of the MDA, to ask the state government to take cognizance of the concerns being raised from time and take a call on the matter.
UDP general secretary Jemino Mawthoh said that the problems in the power sector have been in existence for a long time but the state leadership has not been able to address the problem in the right perspective.
“If consumers are crying hoarse and if employees are speaking out against the management it means there is a serious problem in the MeECL and the power sector and the government has to take a call on this,” he said.
Asking the leadership to take cognizance of the problems and address these issues in the right earnest, Mawthoh said mudslinging between the opposition and ruling will neither help consumers nor augment revenue realization.
