Rs 90 cr outstanding power bills recovered

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Sangma said the state government was able to recover close to Rs 90 crores of outstanding bills, which have not been paid for over five years, during the last two months.

He said this was after notifications were sent to different companies, industries and large consumers who have not paid their power dues.

“We have cut power supply to many of these units who have not paid and after (which) many of them have paid, so this process will continue as we will not allow power to be given to consumers especially the large commercial consumers. Action will be taken like I said, like disconnecting their power if the bills are not paid on time,” Sangma warned.

Urging the consumers to pay their bills on time, the chief minister said that the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) has gone through a lot of difficulties and challenges for many years.

He said despite many efforts taken to reform and strengthen the MeECL, there are still lots of outstanding bills and other issues.

“In this regard, I would like to take this opportunity  to appeal to our citizens and consumers of MeECL that if we want MeECL to become healthy again and ensure proper power supply, we need to ensure that our bills are paid on time, we need to ensure that MeECL is strengthen financially,” Sangma said.

Informing that the government is already in the process of starting the smart metering system, he said this would be a process to restructure and refine the way MeECL works.

The CM further reiterated the need for citizens cooperation to ensure that MeECL becomes healthy again in order for the state to see a true transformation in the power sector.

By Our Reporter