Biswajit refutes allegations against power department
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, November 03 2022:
Stating that the power department of the state received award for proper implementation of Saubhagya scheme, power minister Thongam Biswajit has refuted the allegation levelled against companies under the department while terming it as an attempt to tarnish the image of the department.
Addressing a press meet at his official residence near Sanjenthong on Thursday evening in the presence of MSPDCL managing director Ng Subhashchandra and other officials, Biswajit said that the state implemented Saubhagya scheme for providing electricity connection to poor families effectively.
The scheme is one of its kind in the history of the state and the Centre awarded the state for effective implementation of the scheme.
However, some individuals are deliberately trying to tarnish the image of the department as well as his by bringing up wild allegations in relation with the scheme, he said.
Informing that every detail of the scheme is uploaded on the REC portal, which can be accessed by anybody, the minister said that the allegations are wrong and unfounded and appealed to stop spreading such misleading information.
The amount mentioned in the Letter of Award is Rs 201 crore and the actual amount approved by the Centre as per the closure approval is only Rs 192.70 crore.
Of this, the Centre has so far released Rs 161.25 crore.
There are still funds pending for release by the Centre and bills pending for clearance to the work agencies, he said while maintaining that the report, which missed all these details, should not be regarded as true.
The minister also refuted the allegation of taking service charges from the consumers for providing electricity connection to 1.07 lakh households, and demanded proof of levying service charges.
All the details of the beneficiaries of the scheme along with their locations are uploaded on the official web portal.
Biswajit also demanded locations where LT wires were not stringed and transformers not installed under the scheme.
Negating the allegation of manipulating the quantity and rate of items included in the annexure of the Letter of Award, the minister demanded proof of the alleged manipulation.
All these documents are submitted to REC and there is no room for manipulation, he said and added the copies of the original documents were also provided to an RTI applicant.