Shullet resigns as president MeECL employees association over ‘baseless’ allegations

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaApril 16, 2021

President of the Coordination Committee of Registered MeECL (Employee) Associations and Unions (CCORMAU), Pradip Kumar Shullet on Thursday decided to step down from the post as he outrightly denied all allegation of corruptions made against him.

“…all these allegations have been made to malign my image and damage my reputation. However, since unfounded allegations have been made, for the dignity CCORMAU and the principles that it stands for, on moral ground, I am stepping down as president of CCORMAU. I expect others who faced similar allegations would do the same,” Shullet told reporters. 

He said that the allegations have nothing to do with the issues raised by the CCORMAU, they are two different matters and has nothing to do with the issues of corruption in MeECL. 

He said for some years, he was posted on deputation as senior electrical inspector to the Inspectorate of Electricity which is a government department and for few years now, he have been posted again in MeECL which is a Public Sector unit. 

In the Inspectorate of Electricity which is also the state designated agency on energy conservation in Meghalaya also known in short as MSDA, many activities were undertaken to implement the schemes and programs of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency to create awareness on Energy Conservation. 

“On the allegation that I have allotted works to Nidamon Chullet with claims that he is my brother. Let me clarify that Nidamon Chullet is not my brother. We belong from the same clan but hail from different villages. Work was allotted to him on the strength of his documents. 

There was also allegation about appointment of one Ayanla Imsu with claims that she is my wife. Well, I dont know who is this Ayanla Imsu is? That is not the name of the mother of my children. Infact, she never worked in the Inspectorate of Electricity,” he said. 

Stating that most of the allegations related to MSDA, he said, “Well, I have consulted a lawyer and he tells me that there is no bar for a spouse to participate in any tender. Besides there is also no express regulation that bars any spouse from participating. Therefore, there is no conflict of interest if general procedure of the process of tendering is followed.” 

“In the Inspectorate of Electricity, all electrical contractors including civil contractors who carry electrical works in buildings have to get license from the Inspectorate of electricity to do their business in Electricity anywhere in the state. These contractors in tens, sometimes hundreds frequent the office every day. Therefore, the notice board provide an appropriate place for publicity during tendering process. Besides the notice board, the notice inviting tenders is also published in the MSDA website through the NIC. To assist the Head of the MSDA in overseeing the works right from the tendering process to execution, consultants were provided by a company.

For works less than Rs 50,000 there is a departmental tender committee which takes the decisions. This committee consists of the Senior Electrical Inspector, the Deputy Electrical Inspector, the Supervisory Assistant and the Finance and Accounts Officer who function as Financial Advisor to the Inspectorate. For any work more than Rs 50,000, the authority to decide lies with the implementing committee which comprises the Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary/Commissioner & Secretary on the chair and one member each from the finance department, the NIC, an Executive Engineer from MeECL and the Senior Electrical Inspector as member secretary,”he said. 

Shullet also stated that splitting of works is a normal process when done within the delegation of power of the head of the department particularly for works executed in different districts adding “This practie is prevailing in other departments as well as in MeECL.”

Stating the allegation of multi-crores contracts to M/s IS Enterprise is totally baseless, Shullet said that during the year 2013 to March 31, 2018, the total amount spent on LED demo projects was Rs 54.15 lakhs. 

“The major chunk of this project was allotted to M/s Karma Enterprise for Big village LED campaign at the cost of Rs 16.88 lakhs. The remaining balance of Rs 37.26 lakhs was split and utilized for 9 street lights/luminaires and one for the village campaign for Rs 1.2 lakhs. The Demo projects were executed by three firms. I have filed RTI for the total amount of works executed by M/s IS Enterprise.

For dissemination of messages on energy conservation, an amount of Rs 29.07 lakhs was spent in road shows, publicity and awareness, newspapers ads, jingles on radio, printing and distribution of pamphlets, leaflets, posters, banners, hoardings, board standees, guide books for school children, cartoon calendars etc, carrying messages on energy conservation. 

All details are contained in the audit report which have been done by a reputed firm of chartered accountants and has given certificates for all five years that the accounts give a true and fair view.”