Meghalaya: Rs 54 lakh work incomplete as cabinet approves Saubhagya Scheme closure

Correspondent

Shillong: The Meghalaya Cabinet on Thursday approved the financial closure of the Saubhagya DDUGJY/Additional Infra Scheme, even as Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma admitted that projects worth nearly Rs 54 lakhs remain incomplete out of the Rs 96 crore sanctioned, leaving 30 to 40 villages without the promised coverage. The decision was based on the final verification report submitted by MePDCL.

Chief Minister Sangma told reporters after the cabinet meeting,

“Basically, the physical completion or physical closure report had gone to REC about three years back. But after that phase, MePDCL was still asked to conduct a verification based on different complaints that kept coming to us, that in certain places, the work was not done or not completed. Though the physical closure was done, we decided to carry out further verification to be sure on our side. We did that verification, and the reports came in. The directors (technical) of the three different branches or companies of MePDCL held multiple meetings, and ultimately, the report was submitted to us. Out of the ?96 crores of work under verification, the committee and MePDCL have reported today that, after multiple checks, they found that Rs 54 lakhs worth of work was not completed. The rest has been completed. So about 30 to 40 villages are still left out. I don’t have the names of the villages.”

He further stated, “Based on that, we have accepted the financial closure report from MePDCL and given permission today to proceed with the closure. This means that payment for the Rs 54 lakhs worth of incomplete work will not be made, while for the rest, where verification confirms completion—necessary payments will be released.”

On being asked who is responsible, the Chief Minister said, “The contractors will, of course, be taken to task. In the sense that payments will not be made to them.”

When questioned about the fate of the affected villages, Sangma replied, “We will work on those. As I said, we will not make the payments to the concerned contractor. We will now examine how to move forward. But for now, we have decided not to make payments for those particular villages.”

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