By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 22: Meghalaya is likely to suffer more power outages as NEEPCO has refused to buy MeECL’s offer for withdrawing the load-shedding until and unless the entire dues are cleared.
A letter by N.K. Mao, Executive Director (Commercial) of NEEPCO to MeECL’s Chairman and Managing Director Arunkumar Kembhavi on Monday said that the request for withdrawal of regulation of power supply has been examined and has not been found acceptable in the absence of a specific payment plan.
The NEEEPCO also asked MeECL to provide a specific plan for liquidation of the remaining dues in three equal monthly instalments commencing April 2021 and ending in June 2021 according to the instructions of the Ministry of Power to enable withdrawal of the regulation of power supply.
In reply, Kembhavi said NEEPCO’s insistence on a payment timeline failing which regulation notice for power supply shall not be revoked is an act of arm-twisting and also not in good faith.
“Moreover, the application of regulation of power supply in Meghalaya during the examination time has adversely affected the students in particular and the public in general. It is certainly not in the public interest. NEEPCO and MeECL are public sector entities and all the time, they cannot act only on the basis of commercial interest. Public interest should be paramount for both public sector corporations,” he said.
Kenbhavi also said that the public discontentment will affect the reputation of NEEPCO besides MeECL and its subsidiaries due to power cuts.
According to him, the appropriate authority is doing whatever it can to clear the amount due and payable. Payment of Rs. 325.98 crore has been made in two months in spite of a huge loan liability and interest outgo on MeECL.
This fact should have been appreciated before serving the regulation notice, he said.
Kembhavi pointed out that longstanding issues including dues pending for decades cannot be resolved in two-three months and the competent authorities are doing whatever they can but insistence on an unrealistic timeline would not be in the public interest.
“Having regard to the fact that the public interest is adversely affected on account of the regulation of power supply by NEEPCO during the examination time and also there is no option left now on account of the coercive mechanism adopted by NEEPCO, the amount due and payable to NEEPC shall be paid within a period of three months, i.e., by 30th June 2021 after availing the second tranche of Atmanirbhar loan subject to the satisfaction of REC, PFC and MoP on meeting the pre-conditionalities,” he said in the letter to NEEPCO.
He said there was no justification in issuing the power regulation notice and sought its immediate withdrawal from Tuesday.
“NEEPCO has refused our offer to clear all dues before June 31. But we are still discussing the matter with them,” Kembhavi told The Shillong Times.
Under the Atmanirbhar scheme, which the Meghalaya government has availed, Rs 325 crore has been cleared to NEEPCO which is the highest-paid to any firm.
Kembhavi said there are many pre-conditions that the MeECL has to follow while taking the second tranche from the Atmanirbhar scheme. These include showing a growing trajectory and reduction of aggregated technical and commercial losses.
“If we work at the speed of light, it will take us at least six months to get the second tranche of Rs 372 crore or we will lose out,” he said.
After clearing Rs 325 crore, MeECL will have to pay more than Rs 369 crore to NEEPCO.