Amid the current tension along India’s border with China especially in the Eastern Sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the MDA government in Meghalaya has come under fire for awarding the contract for installing smart electricity meters in the State to a consortium consisting of Chinese company Inhemeter.
Trinamool Congress national spokesman Saket S. Gokhale in a statement issued today said that these electricity smart meters could be used by Chinese hackers to shut down electricity, compromise user data, and tamper with electric supply across the entire State.
“Trinamool Congress has consistently raised security concerns regarding the installation of Chinese smart meters along with large-scale alleged corruption in the awarding of the smart electricity meter contract where the meters were procured at an over-inflated price,” Gokhale added.
According to Gokhale, the issue of security concerns related to Chinese smart meters in Meghalaya is extremely important today owing to recent incidents in the country.
He said that on December 2, as many as 100 servers at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi were hacked which completely disrupted and paralysed operations at the hospital.
“This hack has now been determined to have been done by China through hackers backed by the state. It was a clear act of cyber warfare by China to attack a critical healthcare network in India,” Gokhale said.
“This was closely followed by illegal incursion of Chinese PLA troops into Indian territory near Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, where they were successfully repelled by the courageous Indian armed forces,” he added.
“From the above, two things are clear – that China has clearly established a doctrine of cyber warfare against India where Chinese state-backed hackers aim to disrupt and shut down critical infrastructure in India. That North-East India is a major strategic target for Chinese attacks. It is, therefore, shocking that for embezzling crores of rupees, the MDA government has played with the security of not just Meghalaya but that of the entire country by installing SIM card-based Chinese smart meters on the electricity network in the State,” Gokhale said.
Stating that these Chinese smart meters pose a great risk to the infrastructure of Meghalaya where Chinese hackers can shut down electricity, compromise user data, and tamper with electric supply across the entire State, Gokhale also pointed out that since these Chinese smart meters are SIM-based and connected to the grid, the ramifications of a Chinese hacker attack would be felt across the entire electricity grid.
“We call upon the MDA government to explain to the people of Meghalaya and India as to why such a great risk has been taken with the security of the State’s infrastructure,” Gokhale said.
He also asked the MDA government to explain why these Chinese smart meters were procured at eleven times of the average price “from a favourite contractor of the NPP called Satnam Group”.
“James Sangma and Prestone Tynsong must come clean on why they lied brazenly to the people of Meghalaya and compromised the infrastructure security of the State by installing Chinese smart meters without security approval and in violation of the rules established by the Government of India on usage of Chinese equipment. We will not tolerate the MDA government compromising the security of the people of Meghalaya just to fill up their own pockets,” Gokhale added.
He also said that in June 2022, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong had made a statement in the press stating that these Chinese smart meters are yet to be approved by the Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) and the Government of India and will only be installed after security clearance is given.
“This was a brazen and open lie because then Power Minister James Sangma had shared a picture of a Chinese Inhemeter smart meter installed at his home on Twitter on 25th February 25, 2021 over a year before Tynsong’s false statement,” Gokhale said.
