SHILLONG, June 11: The Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) has decided to continue to operate and maintain the Myntdu-Leshka and New Umtru hydropower projects.
The decision was taken during the consultative meet of MeECL with its three wings of generation, distribution and transmission on Friday to chalk out a turnaround plan.
Power Minster James Sangma said the MeECL officials conveyed their competence in operating and maintaining both projects.
The corporation has also decided to go for complete automation as acquiring additional manpower will entail more financial burden. In addition, it has decided to do away with its practice of replacing damaged transformers only after a minimum of 30% outstanding dues are cleared by the villages.
“We have felt this is unfair and will not be continued,” he said after the meeting.
Once a transformer is replaced even if there are outstanding dues, the connection of those who have defaulted will be cut off and the onus of not going back to illegal hooking will be on village electricity committees and the local Rangbah Shnong and Nokma, Sangma said.
The meeting also decided that operation and maintenance in three units that are in the best interest of the corporation will continue while the rest will be terminated.
“We want to have a uniform policy in terms of O&M (operation and maintenance) for the corporation,” the Minister said.
The corporation pointed out there are many sanctioned posts lying vacant. The government has sought a list of such posts along with the justification that these are essential.
In order to tackle the challenge of less efficiency, the government has instructed the MeECL Chairman-Managing Director for a rational exercise so that there is equal distribution of employees across the different segments of the corporation.
The MeECL has been asked to ensure due diligence with the revision petition with Meghalaya State Electricity Regulatory Commission for the revision of the tariff.
The corporation has also been asked to prepare a plan on how to restart the 1957 Umtru generating station besides submitting review reports on the upcoming Riangdo and Ganol hydropower projects.
On AT&C losses, the MeECL have been asked to improve billing efficiency and take it up on mission mode to bring down such losses.
The government also took strong note of the fact that the statement of accounts and auditing in the corporation has not taken place since 2017 even as the MeECL made it clear that the realisation of outstanding dues would continue.
The MeECL plans to achieve these targets within the next six months.
Sangma has assured that action would be taken against anyone found guilty of power pilferage in Ri-Bhoi district’s Byrnihat Industrial Area. He said the root cause of power theft was being probed for fixing responsibilities.
“These thefts are not small and they have resulted in huge losses to MeECL. Whatever is the finding of the inquiry, we will be taking strict action against the offenders,” he said.
A couple of months ago, MeECL CMD Arunkumar Kembhavi had sought an independent probe into the allegations of power theft and corruption in the Byrnihat Industrial Area.
According to a letter, a vigilance team of the corporation had on January 12 detected a remote-controlled device installed in Sai Prakash Industries for bypassing the meters and quick action was taken against the industry by way of filing an FIR and serving a provisional compensation bill of Rs 3,48,69,143.
