The opposition today lashed out at the MDA government for the inefficiency and alleged wrong decisions of the MeECL, which will cost the state exchequer and lead to natural bleeding of the corporation.
Senior leader, Dr Mukul Sangma while participating in a discussion on the style and functioning of power during the demands for grants, slammed the government over the quantum of power purchasing while terming it as “scary”.
“And the manner in which it was bought will lead to natural bleeding of the corporation,” Dr Sangma said.
He pointed out that the power which is being purchased beyond the rate of Rs 4 per unit is being sold below the rate of Rs 2 per unit. Stating that one-third of the power requirement in the state is being purchased, Sangma asked the government not to play politics on the matter.
Questioning the government over its move to bring franchise from outside for bill collection, he said that there are huge variations and there is a huge gap in the power which is being injected and the active billing.
“Somebody is stealing,” he said while asking the government to review the matter and find a way. He also asked Government to have a political will to correct.
Earlier, Dr Sangma asked the government to leverage on small hydro power projects including the second phase of Ganol hydro power project even as he said that the government should not frighten the investors in power sector as there are plenty of options for them apart from Meghalaya to invest.
“Let power be a sector where investment should be focused,” he said.
Another senior leader, Charles Pyngrope referred to a recent CAG report and lamented that the net worth of MeECL was minus Rs 2001 crore. He slammed the corporation for taking as long as five months to give mere estimates to people for installation of transformers.
Congress MLA Dr Celestine Lyngdoh too said that MeECL surprisingly asks people to pay for installation of electric poles whenever transformers are to be setup in new habitations.
He also said that sometimes, people received an inflated electricity bill after 10 months as a result of which they are unable to pay the amount and corporation wastes no time in disconnecting their power supplies.
Moving the cut motion, Mawhati MLA Charles Marngar informed that there are numerous complaints about irregularities in power supply in villages where people get power for mere one to two 2 hours and there is also a scarcity of linemen.
