Meghalaya has lost at least thousand crore rupees due to defunct power machines, Congress has alleged
Guwahati:
Days after Meghalaya’s main opposition party, Congress, alleged loss of at least a thousand crore rupees to the state exchequer due faults in several key power generation machines and criticised a Rs1,000-cr loan to the discom, the NPP-led state government has admitted to “lapses” and assured an enquiry “if the situation warrants it”.
“Where the situation merits we will have an enquiry… but an inquiry for the sake of an enquiry is not prudent; it’s a waste of time,” Meghalaya Power Minister James Sangma said.
Congress spokesperson and sitting MLA Zenith Sangma has alleged mismanagement in the state’s power sector. He has questioned the state cabinet’s loan to the power discome, MePDCL, to “clear all its outstanding liabilities”, when several of its machines were defunct.
“The Meghalaya Government has approved a loan of Rs 1,345.72 cr to the MePDCL (discom) under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan scheme at 9.5 per cent interest; this will be a burden for the company. The government should have tried to instead increase the company’s efficiency,” he had said at a press briefing earlier.
He flagged that one machine each in stages 3 and 4 of the Umiam Hydel power project has been out of order for a year. “Another 42MW machine in the Myntdu Leshka project has gone kaput,” he said, adding that MePDCL’s failure to spend Rs15-20 crore on repairs has “cost the state a thousand crores”.
“Why did the company fail to repair these machines? Is the loss not a big amount in the context of a state like Meghalaya?” the Congress leader asked highlighting that a resident engineer was suspended without an enquiry after the matter came to light.
Responding to the allegations today, the Power Minister said, “As far as maintenance (is concerned), such things do happen and have happened. What is important is that we are taking corrective action and put a mechanism in place to nip such kind of problem in the bud. We need to ensure that such lapses do not happen again.”
The Congress state unit has also questioned the appointment of a joint secretary-level officer as the Chairman and Managing Director of MePDCL, saying that the post must be held by an officer with more experience.
