Opp Congress slams MeECL CMD for making a political statement against previous Govt

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 9, 2021

The opposition Congress on Wednesday slammed the chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) Arunkumar Kembhavi for allegedly making a political statement against the previous government.

“The present CMD has created bad precedence by giving political statements. Who has authorised or empowered him to give political statements? Or is he being instrumental to the political party in the government? How he dares to give such political statements being an officer,” Congress spokesperson and Rangsakona legislator Zenith Sangma said in a statement.

Stating that the CMD is a very junior officer and still has a long way to go in rendering service to mankind, Sangma however said, “We know he is working under pressure and we are not against him personally. But his actions (statements) are derogatory and not acceptable.”

Also accusing the CMD of having the habit of playing to the gallery, the Congress leader said in his (Kembhavi) post after obtaining a stay to NTPC dues, he wrote that the previous government did not do much scrutiny.

He also asked the CMD to check the records that it was the previous government who wrote to NTPC in 2015 declining to take the power from NTPC.

“The present MDA government could do the same or if not could go to the court or arbitration to fight for justice in the beginning itself. Only after sleeping for more than two years they woke up,” he added.

Sangma said the previous government worked hard to implement as per the mandate of Electricity Act 2003, which necessitated the corporatization of erstwhile MeSEB into MeECL with three subsidiaries- MePDCL, MePGCL & MePTCL.

He also reminded that during the time of corporatization of MeECL in 2010, the United Democratic Party (UDP) was also an integral part of the then government.

“Does the CMD desire to blame the regional parties who are supporting this government?”he asked.  

The spokesperson also said that the present CMD should remember that the then CMD WMS Pariat who was also the Chief Secretary to the government of Meghalaya during whose tenure corporatization of MeSEB completed. He had initiated the formation of the Pension Corpus Fund.

“But as I said that governance is a continuous process and the same might have been under study. But the question is whether the previous government ever stopped the pension? The previous government ensured that dues to employees and pensioners are paid,” he claimed.

Sangma further asserted that these problems are coming mainly due to placing inexperienced people in the rank of Joint / Additional Secretary level officers as CMD.

“The previous government never placed junior inexperienced officers as CMD. It was always Additional Chief/ Chief Secretary level officers, who were CMD, MeECL; be it WMS Pariat or Barkos Warjri or PS Thangkiew. This government should note that experience matters and experience plays an important role in governance,” he stated.