CM to examine MeECL’s decision to outsource 56 sub-stations

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMay 17, 2021

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has asked the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) to keep on hold all matters related to outsourcing of the 56 sub-stations to a Noida based company.

This came after opposition from several quarters including MDA partners against the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL)’s decision to execute the Letter of Aware (LoA) for operation and maintenance of 56 33/11 KV sub-stations to M/s Broadcasting Engineering Consultants Corporation India Limited (BECIL), Noida.

“The LoA has been given but the signing of the agreement is still pending as far as my knowledge goes. Therefore, We have told the MeECL that till I clarify the entire situation and go through the entire process myself and see what has gone into it and find out if there is any issue or point and looking into all those aspects once the cabinet and myself as chief minister are satisfied then we will decide on how to move forward till then I have asked them to keep everything onhold,” Sangma told reporters on Monday.

“I am going to examine this myself and till then I have asked the MeECL to hold on to any further movement in this particular subject,” he added.

The chief minister however, informed as per initial report, the decision to outsource the sub-stations is purely based on cutting the expenditure cost of the MeECL.

“Now, MeECL is currently facing a huge financial challenge. If the current situation in MeECL in terms of the cost factor that is there and the revenue that is there…we are going to see almost 700 to 800 crore of loss in the financial year 2021-22 that MeECL will face,” he said.

“Keeping all those factors in mind, MeECL needs to cut down its cost, these 56 sub-stations that were there, have been given out for maintenance to a public sector undertaking which is allowed in government schemes,” he asserted.

Stating that in no way the government will support the MeECL this time, Sangma said that the corporation will have to figure out by cutting its cost and increasing its own revenue.  

On the other hand, the chief minister said looking at this factor, outsourcing of these sub-stations would reduce the cost by a large extent and that is why MeECL has decided to go for that.

“The manpower that would be taken in to maintain these sub-stations would be local people. So in this entire agreement that was signed with this PSU, it was mentioned that the employment will have to be from the state so local people will be employed to maintain these sub-stations,” he stated.