The budget session of the State Assembly tomorrow is set to be stormy with the opposition Congress moving a privilege motion against Chief Minister Conrad Sangma in the House.
The privilege motion will be raised by senior Congress legislator Zenith Sangma in the House tomorrow under Rule 158 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the State Assembly.
Zenith Sangma in his privilege notice has alleged that the chief minister deliberately misled the House on March 9 that the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is arm twisting the Meghalaya government and stopping the government from buying power from other generation companies and the State has to now pay Rs 133 crore to NTPC for nothing and land up paying a total of Rs 3,325 crore to NTPC for not drawing power from NTPC during a period of 25 years solely due to the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed between NTPC and the erstwhile Meghalaya State Electricity Board (MeSEB) on July 13, 2007.
“The information furnished by you (Conrad) before the august House is in complete deviation from the actual content and intent of the Power Purchase Agreement between NTPC and the MeSEB signed on July 13, 2007,” Zenith said in the privilege notice.
Zenith also said that it was clear at Para 12.0 of the Power Purchase Agreement is itself an available exit clause in case the State government or MeSEB intend to surrender the share of allocation of power from NTPC much before the end of the total duration of the agreement period of 25 years from the commissioning of the last unit.
He also said that the chief minister had deliberately hidden the operational part of Para 2.2.4 and Para 12.0 of the Power Purchase Agreement between NTPC and MeSEB and also the operational part of the tripartite agreement signed on March 20, 2003 by the Meghalaya government, Government of India and Reserve Bank of India, all of which governed the content and spirit of the Power Purchase Agreement.
