Shillong, June 3: The Meghalaya Government has urged the Centre to release the second tranche of the Atmanirbhar loan at the earliest.
Chief Secretary MS Rao, in a letter addressed to the Union Power Ministry on June 1, requested the Centre to keep the Tripartite Agreement in abeyance since the state government has addressed the concerns raised by the Ministry.
“I would like to reiterate that invocation of TPA and debiting of Rs 123.66 crore from the state’s account in these trying times will hamper our fight against COVID-19,” Rao said.
According to him, the number of COVID-19 cases in the state is still high and the state’s finances are already stressed.
“The release of the second tranche of the Atmanirbhar loan will provide much needed relief to NEEPCO and other GENCOS as well as to our DISCOM,” the chief secretary wrote.
The Power Ministry had directed the state government to rectify discrepancies within June 3 and had warned of invoking relevant provision of the TPA to recover the said dues.
The second tranche will be utilised to clear off the current dues so that the present outstanding stands at Rs 42.03 crore which is lower than the outstanding of Rs 50.62 crore at the time of release of the first tranche of the Atmanirbhar loan, Rao said in his letter.
Pointing out that the state budget was already passed, Rao said that the amount has not been reflected in the state budget.
However, an amount of Rs 20 crore has been made available to clear the outstanding dues for 2021-22 and budgetary provision shall be made for the following two years in the respective budgets, he added.
