For the scandal-tainted Meghalaya Energy Corporation Ltd (MeECL) to recover it needs to be made independent of political interference, former Home Minister Robert G Lyngdoh said.
The state-owned utility has been in the news of late for all the wrong reasons, with claims and counter-claims find their way into the press regarding alleged corruption from one side or the other, with Power Minister James Sangma and Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Arunkumar Kembhavi pitched against the engineers’ union. The standing of the company also took a hit in the eyes of the public with repeated spells of extensive load shedding in recent weeks.
“It’s a can of worms. Everybody has been dipping into the sugar pot, whether it be the engineers, bureaucrats, politicians and were having a gala time all this while. Now they are pointing fingers at each other and the blame game has begun but everybody is to blame,” Lyngdoh told Highland Post.
His recommendation would be to give the CMD role to a person who is not answerable to the government. The corporation also needs an independent board of directors to whom the CMD will have to answer to, according to professional and financial norms.
“This matter is being politicised instead of bringing in professionals (financial experts and retired bureaucrats) who can identify what the irregularities are, where things have gone wrong and putting in place a plan to rectify the issues,” Lyngdoh said.
