Leader of Opposition Dr. Mukul Sangma today has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order CBI enquiry into the multi-crore scam related to procurement of smart meters in Meghalaya.
In a letter to Modi today, Dr. Sangma said the matter is of urgent concern as it pertains to massive financial irregularities in the smart meter contract awarded by the Meghalaya government.
Dr. Sangma mentioned that the Meghalaya government through tender number MePDCL/RE/T191/2019-20/Pkg-1 invited the bid for supply of 1,80,000 smart meters. Based on the bid received, the Letter of Award was then issued vide order No. MePDCL/CE(P)/T 191(Pt1)/EKH/2020-21/05 dated 16th February, 2021 to two bidders – Satnam Global Infraprojects Ltd and JPM Industries with Inhemeter Co Ltd as joint venture partner.
“As per the contract, the break-up includes ex works price components of Rs 171,48,42,495 (which comes to about Rs 9,527 per meter) and GST component of Rs 30.86,71,649 (about Rs 1,715 per meter). With this, the total cost incurred by the Government of Meghalaya for one smart meter unit is Rs 11,242.Satnam Global Infraprojects Ltd installed Liberty 150 Smart Meter smart meter manufactured by Secure Meters Ltd headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. Whereas, the Joint venture of JPM Industries and Inhemeter Co Ltd installed Inhemeter DDZ1513,” Dr. Sangma said in the letter to Modi.
Further, Dr. Sangma said that on verifying data from the open market, it turned out that the online retail price of single Secure Meters Ltd’s Liberty 150 smart meter is Rs 5500 each. Similarly, the online retail market price of single Inhemeter DDZ1513 is Rs 1700 each.
“Therefore, there is a massive price discrepancy of Rs 137.55 crore between the price paid by Government of Meghalaya for these smart meters and their price on the open market,” he added.
Dr. Sangma also said that Inhemeter Co Ltd being a Chinese company took the financial viability away from local companies. “Awarding the contract to a Chinese company does not align with the core idea of Make in India. It also creates a security threat as these smart meters have SIM cards installed in them and are connected to the wider mobile internet network which could allow malicious hackers and India’s adversaries to gain control of the entire power system in the State,” he said.
“Sir, you have always held that there is zero tolerance for corruption in New India. Your commitment to ensuring a corruption-free India gives me great expectations and hope that the Government of India will order an immediate inquiry into this matter through an appropriate Central investigation agency. This is an issue that has major repercussions on the people of Meghalaya and the State’s exchequer, and therefore, your kind and urgent intervention is greatly desired in order for justice to be done,” Dr. Sangma said in the letter to the prime minister.
Meanwhile, addressing media persons here today, Dr. Sangma said that there have been a lot of loopholes relating to the installation of smart meters and implementation of the Saubhagya Scheme in the State.
“The inquiry commission into the alleged irregularities in the power sector was set up by the State government without any specific terms of reference, indicating that the whole exercise was a whitewash and skillfully scripted with an attempt to fool the people,” Dr. Sangma alleged.
He demanded that the report submitted by the enquiry committee to the State government should be made public.
