SHILLONG, APR 30: The current power crisis in Meghalaya appears to be the outcome of complete disregard and mismanagement of the Meghalaya Electricity Corporation Limited (MeECL) as the state power corporation had been warned of the impending regulation by the NEEPCO two years ago but ignored willfully allowing the state to slip into hours of darkness by resorting to unprecedented load shedding.
Because the MeECL did not pay any heed to the repeated warnings and suggestions of NEEPCO, the latter was left with no option but to discontinue the power supply to Meghalaya resulting in massive power crisis.
NEEPCO sources said that the MeECL had been warned of the mounting power dues that it had to pay and even suggested to the state’s power corporation to pay the Rs 200 crore dues in 2012 in twenty four installments. The same suggestion was given to the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) which also had pending dues of Rs 280 crore in 2012 and was asked to pay the dues in eighteen installments.
While the ASEB cleared the Rs 280 crore pending dues to NEEPCO in eighteen installments avoiding the power regulation, the MeECL however continued to ignore the suggestion. A senior NEEPCO official said, “Now why are they getting so hyper when they knew about two years ago the possibility of the state plunging into darkness because of the nonpayment of the dues.”
However what came as a surprise is that neither the state government nor the MeECL requested NEEPCO to de-regulate the supply of power last year. The official from NEEPCO wondered why nobody either from the MeECL or the state power department bothered to request NEEPCO to restore power and now when the consumers are hard hit they suddenly wake up as if they were not aware of the grim power scenario the state was heading.
Moreover if the MeECL had abide by the suggestion made by the NEEPCO in 2012 of paying the Rs 200 crore pending dues in twenty-four installments, it would had to pay only Rs 8. 33 crores every month. The NEEPCO official wondered why the state power cooperation was casual about the suggestion as the monthly installment was not a big one which it could not raise.
As of now the actual pending dues of MeECL to NEEPCO is Rs 302 crore with Rs 77 crore being the surcharge (interest).
Another interesting facet of the NEEPCO power supply to the state is the two percent discount it gives if payment is made within the stipulated 30 days period for power purchase. But the official said, “Meghalaya is the only state which has never availed the rebate of two percent as it has failed to make timely payment.” – By Our Reporter
Now where is the money paid by consumers and who has it? why was the finance wing of the then MSEB and now Meecl not Trifurcated when the engineering wing was? and who is responsible.??This demands for a CBI inquiry and the Government that does not agree so needs to be booked also…Disproportionate assets case has to be registered against all officers of the Government who have held Power department and also against Ministers as this is the only way that we shall get to the bottom of all this. These looters have all the courage as certain Police heads do not dare touch them and instead help hold on to cases involving scams by those in Government. So such Police should be booked for abetment…This will bring about transparency and accountability…