‘Power dept riddled with corruption, inefficiency’

SHILLONG, March 12: The Opposition in Meghalaya has accused the government of corruption and administrative inefficiency in the Power department, claiming that the financial burden created by avoidable expenditures, poor planning, and unchecked borrowing is being passed on to consumers through inflated electricity tariffs.
Raising a cut motion in the Assembly on Wednesday, Opposition Leader Mukul Sangma painted a grim picture of how mismanagement and corruption within the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) were driving up power costs for ordinary citizens.
He criticized the government’s flawed approach of cross-subsidizing domestic electricity tariffs by imposing higher rates on industries.
Sangma questioned the basis on which tariffs were calculated, pointing out that generation costs, overhead expenditures, and other financial components were being manipulated to justify higher rates.
He alleged that inefficiencies within the distribution company, stemming from mismanagement and corruption, were causing project costs to spiral out of control, unfairly passing these financial lapses onto innocent consumers, including widows and the poor.
The Opposition leader pressed for a special audit of MeECL, insisting that without transparency and accountability, the corporation risked becoming a “milch cow” for vested interests.
He referred to the CAG’s report, which he claimed had already highlighted avoidable expenditures amounting to nearly Rs 200 crore.
Sangma also questioned the sudden escalation in the costs of the Ganol Hydroelectric Project, dismissing the government’s explanation of “geological surprises” as baseless.
He also took aim at the regulatory mechanisms in place, criticizing the role of the Meghalaya State Electricity Regulatory Commission (MSERC).
Sangma argued that the Commission had a duty to scrutinize cost escalations and prevent the public from becoming “victims of tariffs”.
He lamented the lack of public participation in tariff hearings, suggesting that the government was exploiting the people’s lack of awareness about their rights.
Concerns over power trading and billing irregularities were also raised, with Sangma calling for an independent inquiry into the power sector’s finances to prevent corruption from becoming an established pattern.