AITC accuses MDA Govt of compromising state security by installing Chinese smart meters

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaDecember 15, 2022

The national spokesperson of the opposition All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) Saket Gokhale has accused the MDA government of compromising the security of the people by installing Chinese smart meters in the state.  

In a statement issued on Thursday, Gokhale said, “We call upon the MDA Govt 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. The MDA Govt must explain why Chinese smart meters were procured at 11x of the average price from a favorite contractor of the NPP called Satnam Group.”

“James Sangma & 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 violations of the rules established by the Union Govt of India on usage of Chinese equipment,” he alleged while adding “We will NOT tolerate the MDA Govt compromising the security of the people of Meghalaya just to fill up their own pockets.”

Gokhale said the MDA government had awarded the contract for installing smart electricity meters in the state to a consortium consisting of Chinese company Inhemeter.

He said after concerns were raised by TMC Meghalaya In June 2022, Deputy CM Prestone Tynsong 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), he added.

According to him, the 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.

Stating that the issue of security concerns related to Chinese smart meters in Meghalaya is extremely important today owing to recent incidents, Gokhale said, “On 2nd December, 2022, 100 servers at India’s premier hospital All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi were hacked which completely disrupted and paralyzed 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. 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 said 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.

“North-East India is a major strategic target for Chinese attacks. It is, therefore, shocking that for embezzling crores of rupees, the MDA Govt 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.”

He said as TMC has repeatedly pointed out, 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.

Moreover, 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.