SHILLONG, Sept 22 - Debt-ridden, Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeCL) would float bonds worth Rs 800 crore, with the State Government as the guarantor.�
Informing about the decision, Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma said after a Cabinet meeting that the power department, MeCL and a private company would together float the bonds.�
He said the bonds would be floated for a period of 10 years.
During the current fiscal, MeCL�s projected earning has been placed at Rs 800 crore whereas its estimated expenditure is Rs 1175 crore, leaving a cash flow gap of Rs 287 crore.�
Sangma termed the floating of bonds as a �mini-fiscal reform� of the MeCL. The Government has been constantly bailing out the debt-ridden corporation over the years.�
�The MeCL would be able to narrow the gap of the cash flow,� Sangma added. �
Meanwhile, the Cabinet also decided to constitute a corpus fund of Rs. 35 crore to compensate for any delay in payment of wages to its four lakh job-card holders under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.�
Sangma said it�s mandatory under MGNREGA that job-card holders are compensated, in the event of late payment of their dues, at the rate of 0.5 per cent of their total dues.�
�The corpus fund would not only address the issue of compensation, but also be able to provide payment if there is delay in release of funds from the Centre,� he added.
