SHILLONG, SEPT 30: The state government on Friday decided to bail out the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) by agreeing to be its guarantor for availing loan to enable the latter to clear the huge outstanding power dues.
It also directed the Finance and Power departments to come up with measures that MeECL is required to take for realizing over Rs 350 crore outstanding dues from consumers.
The pending dues to be paid to the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd (NEEPCO) and the other central generating stations (CGS) – is to the tune of Rs 707.76 crore.
Due to the non-payment of dues, the power-starve state has witnessed frequent power cuts in the past weeks.
Addressing newsmen after a cabinet meeting on Friday, chief minister Mukul Sangma said, “We have approved the proposal to avail loan from the power finance corporation (PFC) for which the state government will be the guarantor.”
He said this needs to be done to convince NEEPCO not just to start restoring power entitlement but also waive certain amount of surcharge which is imposed over and above the actual cost of power purchased.
He said the total amount required to be paid to NEEPCO is Rs 469.32 crore which includes principal (actual amount of power purchased) and surcharge of Rs 98.44 crore.
Stating the amount was arrived at after calculating the surcharge at 50%, Sangma said since it is expected a waiver of 60% of the surcharge once the payment of outstanding is done at one go.
He said the principal amount if paid, the surcharge stands at Rs 246 crore and can be sought for waiver at the rate of 60%. Therefore the balance of 40% of the surcharge will come to around Rs 98.44 crore.
“The amount of Rs 469.32 crore therefore is required to be supported by bank guarantee by the state government to enable MeECL to avail this amount as a loan from PFC,” he said.
He said the state continued to have similar situation because the power the state generate from own sources is not enough for meeting the power demand in the state.
Stating that for all the power purchased, the MeECL require to pay one time, he informed that over the years outstanding for NEEPCO has been accumulating because of MeECL’s inability to clear this outstandings on time.
He also said that in preceeding years, the state government had resorted to bailing out MeECL by providing assistance for liquidating their outstanding in respect of power purchase. “But this whole outstanding continue to accumulate and look at the revenue receipts of the MeECL vis-à-vis total revenue expenditure there seems to be quite a huge gap between the actual receipts and expenditure where we have a negative balance of over 300 crore,” he said adding “This again link to various aspect which invariable requires in-depth analysis in respect of the overall revenue expenditure and measures to bring down the expenditure.”
While considering the proposal, the state cabinet which had made its own observation has given direction to finance department to further constitute a team involving officials from finance and power departments to work on various other modalities for ensuring efficient management of MeECL and all its entities.
The chief minister said that another concern expressed by the cabinet is to improve the efficiency of the MeECL in respect of the state commitment of 24X7 power supply for all citizens and also the concern for non-realisation of huge outstanding from the consumers.-By Our Reporter
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