SHILLONG, Sep 13: Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Monday claimed ADB-funded Smart Meters project has been done in a “proper manner” and exuded confidence that the judicial probe instituted by the government would establish the truth.
Reacting to the media reports on alleged irregularities in the USD 132.8 million project, he said that the judicial inquiry is already doing its work and let the facts come out.
“I don’t want to say much on this matter at the moment. We are very confident since we know all the work has been done in a proper manner. Let the judicial inquiry do its work and let the report come out. This will be the best way to ensure that all the required information come out,” Sangma said.
Referring to the media reports, he said that there was some mention about the fact that the installation was not completed and the ADB had raised question on this.
Asserting that the installations and activation are two different things, Chief Minister claimed that the installation has been done for all and the activation requires the metering to start for connecting it to the billing system.
According to him, the activation has not been done yet for multiple reasons. “If activation has not been done it does not mean that installation has not been done. Therefore it is a question how one looks at it. I think it is wrong to twist the words,” Sangma said.
Informing that the government first appointed Justice (retd) Ifaqat Ali Khan of Allahabad High Court as the head of the panel, Chief Minister said that the government had to appoint another judge after the first one had an accident and injured himself.
“We don’t want to delay in appointing another judge since we don’t to be blamed for delaying again,” Sangma said.
Stating that the terms of reference are very broad, he said that judicial inquiry will look into schemes of both the Centre besides looking into appointments and pass records.
“We have asked the judicial inquiry to complete its job at the earliest. But since the terms are very broad so it will not be fair for us to ask to complete the job within 30 days or 60 days. But we are hoping that the inquiry will complete its job very soon since they are on the job,” Sangma added.
