TUR demands power minister to step down

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMarch 17, 2021

The Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) has demanded the immediate stepping down of Power Minister James K Sangma for allegedly presiding over the state’s biggest instance of finance irregularity as till date Rs 450.75 crores has been gifted over to private companies.

“(We are) shocked at the brazen loot in the power sector being presided over by the MDA government,” TUR leader Angela Rangad said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

She said the shocking details of corruption in the implementation of Saubhagya, the central scheme for rural electrification and Smart Meter Project revealed in the media and by the concerned associations of MeECL must act as an eye opener for the citizens of the state about the crony capitalist business of the MDA government, an alliance of the National People’s Party, BJP, United Democratic Party, PDF and HSPDP, has been running.

TUR has demanded for a CBI probe into the implementation of the Saubhagya scheme in the state.

Saubhagya is a central scheme to ensure that every rural household in India is electrified. This scheme was an extension of Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana.

Rangad said the contract to implement Saubhagya scheme for Khasi-Jaintia Hills (Eastern region) was awarded to Satnam Global Infra Projects Ltd, Delhi while for Garo Hills (Western region) the same was awarded to Onycon Enterprises, Mumbai.

“Competitive bidding for these contracts was an eyewash and conditions were created so as to favour certain bidders. Moreover these contracts were based on bids which were on an average extortionately higher than the usual rates at which MeECL was procuring similar materials for other rural electrification schemes. Procurement of materials constituted 70% of the total project cost. This extortionate and corrupt pricing is across the board in procurement of the materials. We feel therefore that on average the escalation has been between 90%-100%. And because work has also not been completed which means that we can easily assume 20% of the amount of the scheme lies with the suppliers.”

TUR leader said that in the Assembly last year the Chief Minister defended the implementation of the scheme by stating that all the procedures were followed in the selection of implementing Companies namely Onycon and Satnam Global.

“Through what has been reported in the media and some of the papers about the decision which have been available in public domain about Saubhagya (A), it is clear that at every step of this contract one company, namely Satnam Global is being favoured. Same has also been alleged for Saubhagya (B). 

Whatever may be the case, the onus is now on the government to be open to an independent investigation in these matters. We demand that the investigation in this regard has to be done by the CBI to fix responsibility as well as to recover the amount of Rs. 293.75 Crores from the favoured supplier/implementing corporation,” she said. 

With regard to smart meter project, Rangad said that the government has been smartly trying to sell the idea of smart meters for the consumers, as they claim the bill recovery can be more efficient and the discom can decrease its revenue losses.

“But the same government which is smart enough in its public relations lost all its smartness when it came to implementing the project,” she said. 

There is a government of India scheme via which state discomms are being helped to replace their old meters by smart meters through a central PSU called EESL Energy Efficiency Service Limited where this programme is being implemented under the BOOT model on cost plus approach, which means all Capex/Opex is done by EESL and the states/ utilities are not required to invest upfront.

EESL has signed MoUs/Agreements for smart meters with the states of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, NDMC-Delhi, Rajasthan, Telangana and for prepaid meters with the states of Uttar Pradesh and Tripura.

“But our smart government decides to take a loan of approx. Rs 230 crores from ADB to pay their favoured company Satnam Global to implement this project. Satnam Global which was the single bidder who managed to make a wrong bid and was still selected for installing these smart meters at the shocking rate of Rs 9444 per meter for 207015 meters,” she said. 

“Shocking because EESL to implement its smart meter project has been procuring these meters for an average Rs 2700/meter. Even if we assume O&M and installation charges, Satnam Global, MDA government’s favoured company has quoted 3 times more than what EESL is offering in other states.

If one was being uncharitable one could say there is a scam of 100% in the Smart Meter Project, i.e of Rs. Rs. 233 crores. But even by charitable standards and industry benchmarks, per meter there is an escalation (scam) of Rs. 6444 meaning of  Rs. 157 crores,” she said.

Meanwhile, TUR demands that the CMD and Board of Directors of MeECL should be replaced with persons of impeccable integrity and administrative and financial acumen.