SHILLONG:
All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) legislator and leader of opposition Mukul Sangma on Thursday said that he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about alleged anomalies in implementation of smart meters in the state.
“In the letter we have urged him to institute an independent inquiry under the supervision of the concerned ministry in the best interest of the people and the state and to send a strong deterrence against repetition of such possible irregularities,” Sangma said.
The leader of opposition also said that the terms of references of the inquiry into the charges of corruption and other irregularities in Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) were not specific to the opposition’s demands for the Saubhagya scheme and smart meter project.
Drawing the attention of the prime minister to the matter, Sangma said that the state government through a tendering process invited the bid for supply of 1,80,000 smart meters.
The Letter of Award was then issued to two bidders – Satnam Global Infraprojects Ltd and JPM Industries and Inhemeter Co. Ltd as joint venture partner.
As per the contract, the break-up includes ex-works price component of Rs 171,48,42,495 (which comes to about Rs 9,527 per meter) and GST component of Rs 30.86,71,649 (about Rs 1,715 per meter).
With this, the total cost incurred by the state government for one smart meter unit is Rs 11,242.
Satnam Global Infraprojects Ltd. installed Liberty 150 smart meter manufactured by Secure Meters Ltd headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana whereas, the joint venture of JPM Industries and Inhemeter Co. Itd installed Inhemeter DDZ1513.
In the letter the leader of opposition said that on verifying data from the open market, it turned out that the online retail price of single Secure Meters Ltd’s Liberty 150 smart meter is Rs 5500.
Similarly, the online retail market price of single Inhemeter DDZ1513 is Rs 1,700.
“Therefore, there is a massive price discrepancy of Rs 137.55 crore between the price paid by the government of Meghalaya for these smart meters and their price in the open market,” Sangma said.
Moreover, he said that Inhemeter Co. Ltd. being a Chinese company takes the financial viability away from local companies.
“Awarding the contract to a Chinese company does not align with the core idea of Make in India. It also creates a security threat as these smart meters have SIM cards installed in them and are connected to the wider mobile internet network which could allow malicious hackers and India’s adversaries to gain control of the entire power system in the state,” the leader of opposition added.
Sangma also said that this is an issue that has major repercussions for the people of Meghalaya and the state’s exchequer, and therefore, the urgent intervention of the prime minister is greatly desired for justice to be done.