The National People’s Party (NPP) today accused the opposition Congress, especially former Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma and his brother Zenith Sangma, of refusing to engage constructively with the government to make the struggling Meghalaya Energy Corporation Ltd (MeECL) financially stable.
This came as a reaction to the statement made by Zenith asking the Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to stop indulging in corruption. He had also accused the state government of trying to sell the MeECL’s assets to private entities.
In a statement issued today, NPP spokesman Nickey Nongkhlaw said the government had invited all stakeholders in the past, including the opposition Congress, to have a dialogue so that a roadmap could be charted out to make the utility financially viable.
“But the Congress refused to have any form of constructive engagement, despite knowing that the current financial constraints of MeECL is a problem created by the Mukul Sangma-led Congress itself,” Nongkhlaw said.
He also said that it was ironic that the brothers were attacking the government over privatisation when it was under the Congress that moves were made in 2017 to bring in private players into the electricity market.
“Mukul gave away a huge amount of MeECL’s money to these companies, literally making the department crippled with debt. When members of the society raised concerns on this move of Mukul, only then he called off the deals after already causing the required damage to the department. What sort of an arrangement did Mukul have with these private players? Why did he use MeECL’s money for a private deal? While he may come up with another lie to defend this move of his, there is a known explanation to this,” Nongkhlaw stated.
On Zenith’s threat that the Congress will move for a judicial probe into the MeECL, Nongkhlaw pointed out that the current inquiry panel already consists of three respectable former judges.
