SHILLONG, March 24: Select employees of MeECL have expressed discontent over the present state of affairs in the Corporation, alleging that it is going to the dogs day by day due to mismanagement.
Some employees alleged that ever since Arunkumar Kembhavi was made the chairman-cum-managing director of MeECL, anomalous transfers of superintending engineers and executive engineers have taken place, while maintaining that this cannot be viewed as a normal reshuffle for the interest of the Corporation.
The officers that were transferred are PP Kar as Superintending Engineer (Projects) MePDCL, Shillong, B Nikhla as Executive Engineer (Projects), MePDCL, Shillong, and DK Srivastav as Executive Engineer, office of the Chief Engineer (Projects),MePDCL, Shillong. The staff alleged that the office order was contentious as the ones who were transferred are the blue-eyed boys of the CMD.
They added that the officials were handpicked without consulting the technical directors and the chief engineers.
“Most conspicuous was the extreme step by giving undue privilege and enormous powers to the Superintending Engineer (Projects) over and above the Chief Engineer (Projects), which is highly irregular and questionable,” the employees said.
They also maintained that the Superintending Engineer (Projects) does not have any expertise of project works.
They also said that it was the Superintending Engineer (Projects) who had signed the Letter of Award (LoA) for the supply of a desktop, computer table and chair to M/s SRIT India Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore (JV) with M/s Satnam Global Infra Projects Ltd, amounting to Rs 1,88,85,438.
The price of one desktop, computer table and chair supplied by the company is Rs 3.36 lakh, which the same can be supplied by the local suppliers for Rs 1 lakh.
They alleged that the Superintending Engineer (Projects) had also issued an LoA to four different companies under ADB projects to the tune of whopping Rs 334,37,00,000 for the construction of sub-stations.
When contacted, MeECL CMD, Arunkumar Kembhavi, called the allegations “baseless” and said that it is the work of some disgruntled employees.
He also maintained that since his joining, he has been able to clear ADB projects worth Rs 1,200 crore in last 5 months. He informed that they have got sanction for 70mw solar projects and sanction for 10,000 solar pump.
“Some employees cannot digest the fact that we are working at this speed,” he said.
Regarding the allegations of handpicking the officers, Kembhavi said the selection was purely merit-based.