Shillong, June 28: As part of overhauling the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) with an aim to improve its overall efficiency, the first big change for the corporation is its Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD).
Meghalaya government has appointed Additional Chief Secretary, Rebecca V Suchiang as the new CMD of MeECL, the order to this effect was issued on June 25, 2021.
Informing this on Monday, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said the change has been initiated for better coordination between finance department and the corporation.
“Kong Rebecca is a very senior person and she is handling finance also so therefore a good coordination will be there. Let us see that we can move in a positive manner and find a solution so that we can start seeing improvement in the overall functioning of the MeECL,” he told reporters.
This also came following demands for appointment of a senior bureaucrat to head the MeECL.
The Chief Minister added that the government is not expecting to change the situation overnight by bringing a new CMD but it is hoping to be able to build up a stronger team.
Admitting that the additional chief secretary is already burden with many departments, Sangma however said the government will find out ways and means to appoint a permanent CMD of the MeECL.
“Therefore, till that time we get somebody permanently, we felt that somebody who is closed with finance and a senior administrative person should come into the picture,” he said.
No problem with old CMD
Meanwhile, the chief minister clarified that there was no problem with the functioning of the previous CMD.
“I am not saying that the previous functioning of the outgoing chairman was bad or good, it is a tough situation so therefore tough situation will require tough decisions to be taken,” he said.
He explained that the government felt the need for a senior person, somebody who is connected with finance to be there at least for time being to be able steer the entire ship and closely coordinate with finance and move things forward.
Financial woes of MeECL
Stating that the MeECL is expected to incurr a revenue loss of Rs 900 crore during this financial year, the Chief Minister said the Corporation is also going to inevitably face a very difficult financial situation in the coming 8-9 months.
He said the MeECL has had a lot of difficulties whether the unbundling of the companies, the pending Rs 800 crore terminal benefits to be given to the employees or the overall payments to be made to different power generation companies.
“There has been a huge financial burden as I keep repeating that whereas states like Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and others owes only 100 crores to these big companies but Meghalaya owes more than 1,000 crore.”
“You can imagine the difference in the dues that are there. Then suddenly NEEPCO and the NTPC went into financial troubles. Therefore what will a company do when they are in financial troubles, they would look at their biggest dues which happens to be Meghalaya and they would start pressurizing them. It is a natural process…So NEEPCO and NTPC were given instruction to cut the power of Meghalaya until and unless they pay it,” he informed.
He said the pressure on Meghalaya government came in to clear these entire dues in the last 10-12 years within a matter of two-three months. Therefore it was a huge challenge and that pressure will continue.
