Shillong, Jan 23: Power minister Abu Taher Mondal has refuted allegations about a government move to privatise the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL).
“As of now there is nothing like we are going to privatise the MeECL,” Mondal told reporters after meeting a delegation of Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM), who wanted a clarification on the issue, on Thursday.
On the government’s efforts to improve financial health of MeECL, he said, “We are working to see that MeECL overcomes all the difficulties that it is facing and its financial position gets better.”
He said efforts are also being made to improve MeECL’s position on consumer related issues regarding distribution, transmission and generation.
Admitting that four power sub-divisions were leased to Chicomputers (Dalu) and FEDCO (Phulbari, Nangal and Mawsynram), he said, “Performance of Chicomputers is very good. They don’t have any pending dues.”
However, the government is concerned over FEDCO for pending dues.
“We have issued show cause notice to FEDCO to the extent of taking legal action or maybe terminating them,” he said while making it clear that these issues are related to collection of bills only.
On the apprehension over installation of smart meters, Mondal said the state government is following the directives of union Ministry of Power to provide smart meters to every state.
“All the states are going ahead with the project,” he said.
Earlier, while speaking to reporters, KHNAM working president Thomas Passah said the party had met the minister to seek clarification on reports about the government’s move to privatise the power sector.
He said the party apprehends about consumers facing more burden with inflated power bills if the government privatised the power sector.
“However, the minister assured us that there is no attempt to privatise the power sector in the state,” he stated.
Although four power sub-stations were privatised, three of them not performing well and the government is considering taking them back, he said.
He informed that the delegation had also raised issues regarding the rates of smart meters.
