SHILLONG, Aug 17 - The Congress today demanded an independent inquiry into the alleged mismanagement of Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL.)
Congress spokesperson Zenith Sangma pointed out several issues of mismanagement within the power company. He said only an independent inquiry would identify the shortcomings as well as people behind the lapses.
He said the Chief Minister and also Power Minister Conrad Sangma had assured the Assembly that a fulltime Chairman-cum-Manager Director would be appointed in the company, which has not been done till date.
�A junior officer has been made CMD of MeECL. Earlier, senior officers not below the rank of Principal Secretary or Chief Secretary, used to occupy the post of CMD,� Sangma said.
Pointing out that he had raised the issue of a junior officer heading the MeECL in the Assembly, Sangma said the CM had assured that it was a temporary arrangement and a full-time CMD would be appointed, which has not been done so far.
Lashing out further on the proposed loan extended to the power company by the CM during his Independence Day speech, the Congress leader said the company would be burdened with interest payment.
The State Government has approved a loan of Rs 1,345.72 crore for the MePDCL (or Discom) under MeECL. The Opposition leader said, the loan is being provided at an interest of 9.5 per cent �which is very high.�
�The MePDCL will have to pay interest of more than 10 crore per month from the day it receives the loan. Rather than taking loans against such a huge amount, the government should have tried to increase the efficiency of the MeECL and tried to make it sustainable,� Sangma said.
He further drew attention to some of the machineries at Umiam Hydro Electric Power Project being out of order since over a year, which the Government has not been able to fix.
He said a power plant having capacity to generate 30 MW has been out of order and it is not generating power for the past one year. From July, another machine having a generating capacity of 42 MW in Leshka project has also been out of order.
Sangma said due to the mismanagement these machineries have not been fixed and as a result the State Government is losing crores of rupees in revenue since the past one year.
�This is the state of affairs in the MeECL. The entire management is in a mess. The reason may be due to weakness in the leadership or in experience in the leadership of MeECL,� he added while demanding an inquiry.