Tura: Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse with the Saubhagya Scheme in Meghalaya, a major scam seems to be surfacing after it was found that many residents in the revenue circles of Tikrikilla, Phulbari, Dadenggre, Rajabala and Selsella are reeling under darkness without electricity connection though their names appear in the consumer list of MePDCL as beneficiaries of the Saubhagya scheme.
The scheme was launched in the state in 2018, just a few months after the NPP-led government came to power in the state with James Sangma as the power minister. The scheme aimed at providing electricity to the 13,9267 households in the state to provide last-mile connectivity and electricity connection.
The scheme itself seeks to cover last-mile electrification of villages and households with free connections. These would include setting up transformers where required, drawing LT power lines as well as providing household wire connections.
Since its launch, Saubhagya has seen problems galore as the initial contract itself was shrouded in mystery. The contract ultimately was awarded to one Satnam Global, which was later found to have inflated prices of procurements to the tune of over Rs 149 crore as was found out by the CAG.
Further, it also received a contract to carry out electrification work in many parts of Garo Hills.
A list of 39 villages within these revenue circles, information of which is available, showed that the entire villages are covered under the scheme. This would mean that all these households should have been electrified. However, a visit to some of these villages showed that most of these households are without electricity connections.
However, what is even more interesting is that many of these households were getting electric bills showing that their data had been entered into the record books as consumers of electricity.
“I was shocked when I got an electricity bill despite the fact that I have lived, like my forefathers before, in absolute darkness. Are they making a mockery of the poor? If we were to be provided connections where did the money go from the scheme that was supposed to benefit us,” asked Charak Sangma, a resident of Dodangre under Tikrikilla, whose entire village has never been electrified.
Another source pointed out that they were made to sign papers by representatives of Satnam Global, which also included the completion report. Unaware of what was happening, most of the headmen signed the papers. Some of them claimed that they were unaware of what papers they signed, the source said.
In most of these villages, surveys by the department and the contractor has been undertaken a minimum of 3 times. However, even after the surveys most of the houses remained unconnected to the grid.
In many of these places, electric poles had been set up as if to show electricity was being provided but were later removed after the complete report was received.
What is even more baffling is that the department, not only had very little knowledge of what was happening but was also least bothered to check that the connections that were on the ground were actually set up.
“There were 3 surveys in our village that raised our hopes of getting power connection as we have not seen electricity since the independence of the country. We later found out that these surveys were just a scam,” informed Kangkarongre headman Habelson Marak.
A visit to the village of Dodangre brought more light to the entire matter. The Nokma of the village, who was unavailable during the visit, had apparently signed the papers with the company despite the fact that more than half his villages of close to 100 households were not connected. What was even more shocking was that the villagers who didn’t receive electricity connections were asked to pay Rs 500 to take the smart meters by the Nokma apparently at the behest of department officials on the promise that they would get electricity connection soon and needed the smart meter to prove that they wanted electricity. While most paid, some didn’t.
The villagers’ dilemma did not end there. It appeared that the approval by Nokma was sufficient to include the names of those who were deceived into the list of users in the database. What happened next was truly defining. The villagers started receiving electricity bills without receiving any power.
Another resident of Matramchigre, Gatjen Sangma, expressed the opinion that despite the completion report, the department should have done its own groundwork to verify if the electrical connections were actually installed on the ground. He felt that the department was in a hurry to sign off on the project, despite knowing that most of the connections listed on paper were not actually implemented in reality.
An official from Phulbari, on the condition of anonymity, informed that there would always be a gap between the number of bills produced and the revenue collected.
“This was a major issue for us being a private entity as we have to ensure bills are collected on a monthly basis to meet the contractual agreement with the MePDCL. The gap in revenue collection was baffling, to say the least, and when we asked our ground staff, they informed us that these bills were being generated for those households that didn’t have an electricity connection,” said the official.
A resident of Banggrangre, Habelnath Marak informed that bills were being generated since 2019 after the apparent installation of power connections to the village with arrears going up to Rs 6000 in some cases.
“Why will we pay these bills when we have got no connection at all? This is senseless and stupid. The people who set us up this way should not go unpunished,” felt Habelnath.
Some of the villagers initially paid their bills in the hope that they would get a connection as their names were on the database. However, after waiting for more than 3 years, they finally got the joke that was being played on them.
“Some of us were absolutely angered at receiving these bills and spoke to the lineman. He informed us that it could have been an error but the bills continued to come despite us informing them. After a while, we stopped taking these seriously and began throwing them away. Some of us however kept a record,” informed Tinar Marak of Matramchigre.
During the visit to these villages, residents showed hundreds of bills that were generated in their names, with many showing the latest bills of Feb this year. These apparently were being generated since their names were entered into the consumer database.
As is the norm, MePDCL generates a minimum bill for each consumer whether they use the services or not. This has meant that crores have been entered into the record books as uncollected dues over the past three years, falsifying the MePDCL book of accounts.
“We are sure that the contractor has been paid on the basis of the number of households electrified which means that this is a major scam. How did the department sleep on such a huge matter despite receiving several complaints is another matter altogether. While the joke may initially have been on the villagers but now it is on the government that actually allowed for such a thing to be played on them,” said social activist and resident of Phulbari, Peter Sangma.
For most of the villagers, the smart meter has been put on display in front of their houses. It is a stark reminder of a state that has failed them in their time of absolute need while asking them to pay for something that they have lusted for but never got.
For Peter, the visits to these villages have been life-changing.
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“I never thought that a government could actually play such practical jokes on its own people. This is not only insensitive and callous but an absolute crime. There must be action against those responsible for playing these jokes on the people of the state. A high-level inquiry into what transpired is a must,” he felt.
For most, the smart meter in their homes is a stark reminder of the joke that continues to be played on them. For others, the bills remind them of the darkness they are forced to deal with.
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