SHILLONG, June 27: Unmoved by the claims of better planning at the MeECL by the corporation’s CMD, Arunkumar Kembhavi, Congress Spokesperson Zenith Sangma on Sunday pointed out that the state is losing 7.2 lakh units of energy in a day and 21.6 MU in a month due to a unit of Umiam Stage IV Hydroelectric project which has allegedly remained non-functional for nearly two years.
“One of the units of Umiam Stage IV HEP having generating capacity of 30 MW is out of generation since August, 2019. It has been almost two years but till now it has not been rectified. That means we are losing 7,20,000 units or 0.72 million units of energy in a single day and 21.6 MU (Mega Unit) in a month,” Sangma said in a statement here. “So, if we calculate even @ ₹ 3/- per unit, it is ₹ 6.48 crores of revenue loss and (6.48×22) crores = ₹ 142.56 crore revenue loss, which would have come to the kitty of MeECL. This is just the tip of iceberg. There are so many other things where MeECL is losing hundreds of crores due to mismanagement,” he said.
On the CMD rubbishing the recent allegations of mismanagement in the MeECL calling them baseless, the Congress Spokesperson said that his statement was based on the CMD’s statement published in the media. “Then how can it be baseless?” he asked. He, however, went on to acknowledge that the MeECL has been able to generate 150 MW out of its installed capacity of 356 MW in June, 2021.
Talking about the non-operational unit of the Umiam Stage IV HEP, Sangma claimed that he has been raising the issue since 2019 but in vain.
Coming down hard on the corporation for not disbursing the pension to its retired employees for last three months, the Congress spokesperson sought the government’s immediate intervention.
“The CMD himself informed that every month there is a loss of 6 to 8 lakhs of units of energy in the industrial area of Byrnihat. The Power department should take immediate action to stop these losses,” he said.
“As responsible Opposition, we have been always raising issues pertaining to the mismanagement of MeECL and at the same time, we have been giving suggestions where to stress to improve to make MeECL viable and thereby protecting the interest of our beloved people of the state,” Sangma added.
MeECL CMD Aunkumar Kembhavi had earlier refuted the charge of Congress that the corporation is generating only 60 MW of power and incurring losses of ₹ 50 crore due to mismanagement in generation.
