By Patricia Mukhim
Meghalaya’s financial woes seem to have piled up over the years. While we cannot blame the cumulative debts that have piled up for the MeECL on the present government, the fact is that the MDA Government has not shown any kind of financial discipline despite the financial crunch that is staring at the state. Meghalaya has been fortunate to garner funds from international agencies like JICA that are investing in the region and the state with an eye on long term economic cooperation since the North East is a crucial link to South East Asia and countries like Japan want to counter the influence of China in the Asia-Pacific region. Meghalaya is also getting loans from the World Bank, ADB etc. which are returnable. We are unsure how the debt servicing is being done or whether the above international funding agencies are actually giving grant assistance.
What is a matter of great concern however are the contents of the 148 page minutes of the 21st Technical Coordination Committee (TCC)-North East Regional Power Committee (NERPC) meeting held on Feb 3-4, 2021 at Kohima, Nagaland. If one goes through the minutes and looks for Meghalaya’s outstanding in the document one will get to know the extent of the crisis faced by the MeECL. It is the worst performer among all North Eastern states. A comparative analysis shows that while Assam owes NEEPCo 1.72 crore, Mizoram 1.82 crore, Manipur 36.97 crore, Tripura 133.23 crore, Nagaland –nil, Arunachal Pradesh .07 crore, Meghalaya is highest at 700.38 crore. The break up is Rs 358.19 crore outstanding over 45 days and Rs 342.19 crore as late payment surcharge. This is mentioned in page 52-53 of the minutes document. This amount is only likely to go up since Meghalaya is only fire-fighting. In fact the situation is quite alarming as NEEPCo threatens to shut off power to Meghalaya.
The minutes observe that the above statement reflects an alarming situation. While some states are paying regularly, and some are trying hard to clear the dues, Meghalaya has become the sole laggard. ‘Due to the accrual of such outstanding dues, NEEPCO is facing difficulty to meet its day-to-day expenditure including fuel costs required for operating its thermal power stations,’ the minutes observe. NEEPCo has been pleading with its clients to clear the dues so that it continues to serve its clients. NEEPCO has been urging all its clients to pay their dues regularly but to no effect. This is what is noted in the minutes of the meeting. The question to ask is why has Meghalaya run up such a huge bill when others have not?
Meghalaya also has outstanding to another company – the OTPC which supplies gas-based power from Tripura. The amount outstanding against Meghalaya is Rs 166 crore while other states net in lower amounts. The comparative figures are Arunachal Pradesh 3.77 crore, Assam 85.81 crore, Manipur 42.5 crore, Mizoram 6.30 crore, Nagaland 4.95 crore and Tripura 74.34 crore. The meeting observed that auditors have been regularly reflecting the issue of outstanding dues and absence of Letter of Credit from Meghalaya as a special concern in the NERPC Board Meetings.
But the above are not the only debts. On page 55 of the document, Meghalaya is shown as owing Rs 510 crore to NTPC, the highest among all NE states, and this outstanding is past 45 days. If all the dues are added up then the amount is a staggering Rs 1,376 crore. With limited resources at its command the MeECL is at breaking point. And it appears that we the people of Meghalaya are not being told the whole story. The State has been borrowing from the market to keep the MeECL afloat but for how long.
The problem of course is populism. At a time when it was prudent for the MeECL to raise the tariff it could not do so because the public headed by the Rangbah Shnongs then protested against the hike. Meghalaya is paying the lowest per unit at Rs 5.58. This is simply not sustainable. The industrial units have been enjoying power subsidies for setting up shop in Meghalaya. The idea was that these units such as cement companies etc., would create jobs for local youth. There is no study as yet to establish whether the companies that are benefitting from several subsidies over the decades have added any vale to the state or have used up its resources while only leaving behind a trail of pollution.
So what happens now that Meghalaya is staring at a grim power scenario? Speaking of digital connectivity when power supply itself is not guaranteed is like flying a kite without the wind to propel it to the skies. The kite will come down to earth instead of flying. For years we have netted these outstanding debts but politicians have taken the easy way out because they believe taking hard decisions will hurt their vote banks. If politics has to decide every step of the development process then Meghalaya will become the worst performing state. To brandish figures around as being the most well-governed state will no longer wash.
Meghalaya has failed in nearly all fronts from health to education and now the power sector. It is not as if the central government has not bailed out the state. The amount of central funds that have devolved to the state are a staggering amount and this is evident from the kind of real estate acquisitions of those in politics especially the current crop of politicians who seem to be buying property the way ordinary humans go to Police Bazar to buy a pair of shoes or clothes. It is indeed a sad scenario when the voters have become poorer by the year and landlessness is looming large but politicians are getting richer by the day. In fact it’s time to evaluate their properties and see whether these acquisitions match their incomes. What are the private businesses that they are engaged in before and after entering politics which has pushed up their wealth ranking?
If the people of Meghalaya don’t wake up now and seek transparency in every branch of governance they are going to pay a price that they cannot afford in the future. Already our roads even within city limits are not motorable. A bridge that is just a few meters long takes years to complete pushing people to take the long route to their homes and burn more fuel. There is complete lack of accountability from our elected representatives and as voters we overlook all these faults when we are paid money to vote for the same politician again and again. This has to end. People are supposed to be the real rulers in a democracy but we have put democracy on its head by allowing people to become rich at our expense. The choice is entirely ours whether we want this elitist rule to continue even while we are pushed to the margins.