The decision of the MDA cabinet to appoint retired MeECL Chief Engineer (Projects) U N Madan as Chief Technical Adviser of the Power Department for a period of three years has kicked up another controversy.
It may be noted that MeECL employees unions, civil society groups and most importantly UDP, the major coalition partner of the MDA, had earlier demanded for an independent enquiry to probe all the scams and irregularities in MeECL.
The most important scams that have been highlighted are the Saubhagya Scheme (Rs 471 crore), Smart Metering Project (Rs 244 crore) and Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP Project (Rs 18 crorer). The total cost from these three projects is to the tune of around Rs 700 crore.
It is pertinent to mention that all the projects were bagged by Satnam Global Infra Projects Ltd, Noida either on its own or through joint ventures with other firms.
It was alleged that Madan was responsible for allowing these scams to take place when he was the Chief Engineer (Projects) in MeECL.
Despite being in the centre of all these controversies, Madan was rewarded with the post of Chief Technical Adviser of Power Department.
Interestingly, the ministers belonging to the MDA allies such as UDP, PDF and HSPDP did not raise any objection to the appointment of Madan.
“How could they concur to such a proposal is something that we don’t understand,” a senior official of MeECL said.
Although it is the prerogative of the government, the post of Chief Technical Adviser has always been for a period of one year from the date of appointment.
What led the cabinet to increase the period of appointment to three years is a question that only the Power Department can answer.
The trend that unfolds from these events indicates that Satnam Global Infra Projects Ltd may have had deep influence in the decision making of MeECL and Power Department including in the outcome of the cabinet meeting.
While Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Power Minister James Sangma continue to stress on reforms and turnaround in MeECL, the reality speaks otherwise.
All the posting and transfers in MeECL seems to be a pre-planned idea of someone at the helm of affairs either to hinder the independent enquiry into the scams in MeECL or to facilitate financial benefits from the scams by having their own men in positions where it matters most.
