The opposition Congress has alleged that the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) has incurred a revenue loss of Rs 142.56 crore after it has failed to rectify one of the units of Umiam stage-IV hydro-electric power, which has been out of generation for the past 22 months.
In a statement issued, Congress spokesperson and Rangsakona legislator Zenith Sangma said one of the units of Umiam Stage IV HEP having generating capacity of 30 MW is out of generation since August, 2019.
“It has been 22 months (almost two years) but till now it has not been rectified. That means we are losing 7,20,000 units or 0.72 million units of energy in a single day and 21.6 MU in a month. So, if we calculate even at ₹3 per unit, it is 6.48 crore of revenue loss and 6.48 crore multiplied by 22 amounts to 142.56 crores revenue loss, which would have come to the kitty of MeECL,” Sangma said.He also said that he has been raising this issue since 2019 to draw the attention of the government and the MeECL to take immediate action to rectify but was in vain. Stating that this is just the tip of the iceberg, he further alleged there are so many other things where MeECL is losing hundreds of crores due to mismanagement. He said it was good to note that the MeECL is able to generate 150 MW out of its installed capacity of 356 MW at least in this current month of June. “In my last statement, I pointed out that MeECL could generate the energy of 60 MW, was based on the statement made by the CMD, MeECL that was published in the news on May 11, 2021. Then how can it be baseless?” Sangma asked. In the statement, the CMD, MeECL had claimed that it has generated 150 MW (approx) in the month of June 2021. He further claimed that the Myntdu Leska project has been clocking the full capacity of 126 MW.
“Therefore, I have been made to understand that the balance generation (other than 42×3 = 126 MW = Myntdu Leska project) is (150-126) MW = 24 MW only out of (356-126) = 230 MW,” he said. On the other hand, the Congress leader also slammed the MeECL for its failure to disburse the pension of its retired employees for the last three months.“I urge upon the government for its intervention to release the pension immediately and give justice to the aggrieved pensioners and without further delay to resolve the issue with MSERC with proper diligence simultaneously,” he said.He also pointed out that the CMD himself had informed that every month there is a loss of 6 to 8 lakhs of units of energy in the industrial area of Byrnihat. He urged the power department to take immediate action to stop these losses.“In fact, as a responsible opposition, we have been always raising issues pertaining to the mismanagement of MeECL and at the same time, we have been giving suggestions to make MeECL viable and thereby protecting the interest of our beloved people of the state,” Sangma stated.
