Shillong, March 9: Meghalaya which could not recover power dues of around Rs 80.93 crore from some defaulters, is also unable to pay power dues of Rs 527.07 crore to the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) and other Central Generating Stations.
To a question by Opposition MLA of the United Democratic Party, Jemino Mawthoh during question hour in Assembly today, Power Minister, Sniawbhalang Dhar said that the amount due to be paid to Neepco and other Central generating stations was Rs 527.07 crore as on March 2.
“In December 2016, the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) has availed the government’s guaranteed loan of Rs 325 crore from the Power Finance Corporation and the amount was paid to NEEPCO on December 21, 2016 as part of the one-time settlement plan for liquidation of NEEPCO dues,” Dhar said.
The Minister informed that the MeECL has also sent a proposal to the state government to participate in the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY), a scheme of the Central government for operational and financial turnaround of the Meghalaya Power Distribution Company Limited (MePDCL) and the matter is under active consideration of the State government.
When Mawthoh wanted to know the reasons for the outstanding dues where the state government has to bailout the MeECL time and again, Dhar said that the MePDCL could not liquidate the dues pertaining to power procurement, mainly due to fund constraints caused by low electricity distribution tariff.
Dhar also said that there was inadequate realization of outstanding dues from defaulters which led to accumulation of power dues.
He informed that the major defaulters yet to pay the dues to the MeECL include Sai Prakash (Rs 35 crore), CMJ Breweries (Rs 1.2 crore), Bomber Cement (Rs 0.23 crore), RNB Carbide (Rs 4.5 crore), JUD Cement (Rs 22 crore) and the Meghalaya Cherra Cement Limited (Rs 18 crore). The total amount to be recovered from the defaulters is Rs 80.93 crore.
