SHILLONG
Deputy Chief Minister in-charge Power Prestone Tynsong on August 10 ruled out any move to privatise the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL).
He was responding to a query on the recent protest staged by the Coordination Committee of Registered MeECL Association and Unions (CCORMAU) against the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and move to privatise the power sector.
Reserving his comment on the amendment bill, Tynsong however said privatisation will take place only when employees themselves want to do that through the state government.
Pleading the MeECL workers not to panic, the deputy chief minister said, “I am here on behalf of the state government. The state government owns this company so in the first place why should we privatise, and regarding the recent policy of the central government, the state government can also take a call on whether to privatise the power sector or not,” he said.
He said each and every state will also not like to privatise the power sector.
On the allegation that through the amendment bill, the central government seeks to take away the powers of the state government, Tynsong however said, “Nothing of that sort, they should not misunderstand at all as the subject federalism of the entire nation is always there so they cannot encroach the authority of the state government. That is what I am telling you they should not worry about this as this one is not only for Meghalaya or MeECL alone, Assam corporation is there and every state they do have the discoms under their control.”