GUWAHATI, Feb 3 – Since its inception, the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) has been playing a vital role in meeting the power demand of the North-Eastern States, but this organisation today is facing crisis due to the apathetic attitude of the Central government. The major hardship the NEEPCO is facing is that this organisation is functioning without a regular chairman and managing director (CMD) since May, 1998. NEEPCO sources said that for the past eleven months, the joint secretary of the Ministry of Power has been officiating as the acting CMD but he is not in a position to devote his full time and energy to the organisation. Sources said that the acting CMD managed to pay only a few visits to the North-East in the past eleven months, which seriously affected the functioning of the organisation.
Giving some examples of the problems faced by the NEEPCO in the absence of a regular CMD, sources said that all major decisions are to be taken by the CMD. Sources said that a generator transformer of the Doyang Hydro Electric Power Project went out of order on June 1 last year and that has not been repaired till date because of the failure of the authorities to take any decision. The NEEPCO had to suffer heavy losses because of the delay in repairing the transformer. Sources further pointed out that the acting CMD was not present at the site during the commissioning of the first two units of the Ranganadi Hydro Electric Power Project to boost the morale of the staff and to take on the spot decisions whenever necessary. Sources further revealed that the dealings with the state governments affected because of absence of a regular CMD.
Sources revealed that the Chairman and managing director of the NEEPCO is appointed by the Government of India after the selection by the Public Enterprise Selection Board. The board selected two candidates five months back and one was found to be unavailable, and till date, the government of India has not been able to appoint a CMD. The employees of the NEEPCO approached a number of members of Parliament from the region in this regard, but they alleged that apart from only Dr Arun Sarma, the other MPs met by them did not show much interest on the issue.
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has also given adverse remarks at the failure of the Central government to appoint a regular CMD of the NEEPCO. The commission in a judgement on November 20 last year, said “it seems that because there is no regular CMD of the NEEPCO for a long time now and even the incharge is not located at site, there is no one available on ground to take decisions keeping the overall interests of the company and the constituents of the region. We recommended to the government that arrangements for regular appointment of the CMD should be made without any further delay. We hope and trust that the recommendation made by us shall be taken by the government in proper spirit and acted upon.”
It may be mentioned here that since its inception, the NEEPCO has been playing a vital role in meeting the demand for power of the NE states. NEEPCO sources revealed that the installed capacity will be 1105 MW after the commissioning of the third unit of the Ranganadi HE Project in March, against the total demand of about a thousand MW in the region. Sources said that the allocations to the constituent states are made by the ministry of power, government of India and the plannings are made by the NE Regional Electricity Board in consultation with the state governments. The NEEPCO is also selling the surplus power to West Bengal.