Cong slam govt’s failure to restore machines leading to revenue loss of Rs 100 Cr

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 17, 2020

The opposition Congress has slammed the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government for its failure to restore two machines of the Umiam hydro electric power which led to revenue loss of over Rs 100 crores.

“The two machines – one from the Umiam HEP stage-III and the other from the Umiam HEP stage-IV – having a capacity of generating 30 megawatt power each, were out of order for the last one year,” Congress spokesman and MLA from Rangsakona, Zenith Sangma told reporters on Monday.

“The loss incurred due to the failure in restoring these two machines, in a single day is Rs 36 lakh and if this amount is multiplied by 30 days, the loss would come to around Rs 10.8 crore and for one year, the loss is over Rs 100 crore. Why the company failed to restore these machines is a big question,” Zenith added.   

The Congress leader also asked the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, his Power Minister James K Sangma as well as the leadership of the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) whether this is the way to manage the company and allow such revenue loss to the tune of Rs 100 crore.

He said another machine having a capacity to generate 42 MW of power at Myntdu Leshka hydro electric project was reported to be out of order incurring a loss of Rs 25 lakh per day.

Without going deep into the matter or instituting an inquiry, Zenith said abruptly, a resident engineer has been suspended resulting in some agitational programmes being conducted by the Meghalaya Engineers’ Association recently.

“I am not against action taken on any officer but why the management has failed to restore the machine which comes as a financial burden to the state government,” he said while demanding the chief minister to give a categorical reply to this alleged mis-management of the MeECL.