TURA, Feb 19: Indicative of a worst for the Saubhagya scheme in Meghalaya, a whiff of a major scam seems to be in the offing after it was discovered that many residents in just the revenue circles of Tikrikilla, Phulbari, Dadenggre, Rajabala and Selsella have been without electricity though their names appear in the consumer list of MePDCL as beneficiaries of the scheme.
The Saubhagya scheme was launched in the state in 2018, a few months after the NPP-led government came to power in the state with James Sangma as the Power Minister. The scheme aimed at providing electricity to the 13,9267 households in the state with the aim of ensuring last-man connectivity to the power grid.
The scheme itself seeks to cover last mile electrification of villages and households with free connections. These would include the setting up of transformers where required, drawing low tension power lines as well as providing household wire connections. The project was paid for through central funds with contracts being given to contractors to work the entire set up.
Since inception, Saubhagya has seen problems galore with the initial contracting itself shrouded in mystery. The contract ultimately went to one Satnam Global which was later found to have inflated prices of procurements to the tune of over Rs 149 crores, as was found out by the CAG.
Further it was also contracted with electrifying many parts of Garo Hills – a decision as baffling and riddled with uncomfortable questions by the same ministry.
A list of 39 villages within these revenue circles, information of which is available, showed the entire villages covered under the scheme. This would mean that all these households would have been electrified. However a visit to some of these villages showed that most of these households had absolutely no connections at all to the power grid and as such had no electricity.
However what is even more interesting is that many of these households were getting electric bills showing that their data had been entered the record books as consumers of electricity.
“I was shocked when I got an electricity bill despite the fact that I have lived, like my forefathers before, in absolute darkness. Are they making a mockery of the poor? If we were to be provided connections where did the money go from the scheme that was supposed to benefit us,” asked one Charak Sangma of Dodangre under Tikrikilla, whose entire village has never been electrified.
Another source pointed out that they were made to sign papers by representatives of Satnam Global, which apparently even included the completion report. Unaware of what was happening, most of the headmen signed providing cover for the company to literally get away with murder. Some of them claimed that they were unaware of what papers they signed.
In most of these villages, survey work by the department as well as the contractor was undertaken a minimum of three times. These surveys were seemingly to see how much the entire scheme could be bent as thousands remain unconnected.
In many of these places, electric poles had been set up as if to show electricity was being provided but were later removed – suspectedly after the completion report was received. What is even more baffling is that the department, not only had very little knowledge of what was occurring, they were also not bothered enough to check that the connections that were on the ground were actually set up.
“There were 3 surveys in our village that raised our hopes of getting connected to power as we have not seen electricity since the independence of the country. We later found out that these surveys were just a scam,” said Kangkarongre headman, Habelson Marak.
A visit to the village of Dodangre brought more light to the entire matter. The Nokma of the village, who was unavailable during the visit, had apparently signed off the papers with the company despite the fact that more than half his villages comprising close to 100 households were not connected. What was even more shocking was that the villagers who were not connected were asked to pay Rs 500 to take the smart meters by the Nokma apparently at the behest of department officials on the promise that they would be connected soon and needed the smart meter to prove that they wanted electricity. While most paid, some didn’t.
The dilemma of the villagers did not just end here.
Apparently the sign-off by the Nokma was good enough to put the names of those who were cheated off a connection, to be pushed into the database of users. What came next was thought-provoking — electricity bills without power.
“Despite the completion report, the department should have done their own groundwork to see if these connections were actually on the ground. They seemed in a tearing hurry to sign off despite knowing well that most of what was on paper was never on the ground,” felt another resident of Matramchigre, Gatjen Sangma.
An official from Phulbari, on the condition of anonymity, said that there would always be a gap between the amount of bills produced and the revenue collected.
“This was a major issue for us being a private entity as we have to ensure bills are collected on a monthly basis to meet the contractual agreement with the MePDCL. The gap in revenue collection was baffling to say the least and when we asked our ground staff, they informed us that these bills were being generated for those households that didn’t have an electricity connection,” said the official.
A resident of Banggrangre, Habelnath Marak said that bills were being generated since 2019 after the apparent installation of power connections to the village with arrears going up to Rs 6,000 in some cases.
“Why will we pay these bills when we have got no connection at all? This is senseless and stupid. The people who set us up this way should not go unpunished,” felt Habelnath.
Some of the villagers initially paid their bills in the hope that they would get a connection as their names were on the database. However, after waiting for more than three years, they finally got the joke that was being played on them.
“Some of us were absolutely angered at receiving these bills and spoke to the lineman. He informed us that it could have been an error but the bills continued to come despite us informing them. After a while we stopped taking these seriously and began throwing them away. Some of us however kept a record,” said Tinar Marak of Matramchigre.
During the visit to these villages, residents showed hundreds of bills that were generated in their names, with many showing the latest bills of Feb this year. These apparently were being generated since their names were entered into the consumer database.
As is the norm, MePDCL generates a minimum bill for each consumer whether they use the services or not. This has meant that crores have been entered into the record books as uncollected dues over the past three years, falsifying the MePDCL book of accounts.
“We are sure that the contractor has been paid on the basis of the number of households electrified which means that this is a major scam. How did the department sleep on such a huge matter despite receiving several complaints is another matter altogether. While the joke may initially have been on the villagers but now it is on the government that actually allowed for such a thing to be played on them,” said social activist and resident of Phulbari, Peter Sangma.
For most of the villagers, the smart meter has been put on display in the front of their houses. It is a stark reminder of a state that has failed them in their time of absolute need while asking them to pay for something that they have lusted for but never got.
For Peter, the visits to these villages have been life changing.
“I never thought that a government could actually play such practical jokes on its own people. This is not only insensitive and callous but an absolute crime. There must be action against those responsible for playing these jokes on the people of the state. A high level inquiry into what transpired is a must,” he felt.
For most, the smart meter in their homes, is a stark reminder of the joke that continues to be played on them. For others, the bills remind them of the darkness they are forced to deal with.
