State PSUs incur 400 cr revenue loss

SHILLONG, SEPT 20: Cash-strapped Meghalaya has incurred a revenue loss of nearly 400 crore due to the poor performances of 15 state public sector undertakings (SPSUs).

Today the heads of the different SPSUs were summoned by the Assembly’s Committee on Public Sector Undertakings headed by former chief minister Salseng C Marak to seek the status of their respective Accounts.

The chief secretary Y Tsering, who was also asked to be present however failed to attend the meeting without informing the Committee.

“While taking cognizance of the report of the Comptroller and Audit General (CAG), we found that the state government has incurred a revenue loss of Rs 389.50 crore till 2016,” committee member and UDP MLA Titos Chyne told reporters after the meeting.

He said that the committee is surprise that there is nothing worth praising on the performances of these PSUs.

Earlier there was a total of 17 PSUs. However out of these, two units have been closed down by the government.

Stating that all the units were running at a loss, Chyne said except for three units – Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC), Forest Development Corporation (FDC) and Meghalaya Government Construction Corporation Limited (MGCC) – there is some net profit.

He however said but the three profit making PSUs have failed to submit their respective accounts for the past four to five years as all accounts were only up to 2011.

“We have raised this issue of non-submission of accounts so that the units will accordingly take up steps on this matter,” he said.

Asked, Chyne however said that the state government till date has failed to take steps on the recommendations of the Committee which had already submitted its report in the last Assembly session.

The Committee in its report had recommended the government to put in place an institutional agreement with an action plan and timeline to direct the defaulting PSUs to clear the arrears and finalise their accounts at the earliest.

It has also observed that the defaulting PSUs are detrimental to the financial interest of the government even as it also endorsed a recommendation made by the CAG wherein fresh grants should be made only when accounts are finalized.

He said that they had also suggested the administrative departments to take the responsibility to oversee the activities of these entities and to ensure that the accounts are finalized and adopted by these SPSUs within stipulated period.

In absence of finalization of accounts and their subsequent audit it could not be ensured whether the investment and expenditure incurred have been properly accounted for and the purpose for which the amount was invested was achieved or not.

Reacting to a query, the Committee member said that one of the main problems faced by the PSUs is due to overstaff.

“The Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC) is having a total of 383 staff with only 64 buses that too not all of them are functioning, so this creates a problem,” he said.

He informed that two out of 17 PSUs have been closed down and they the Meghalaya Electronics Development Corporation Limited (MEDCL) and Meghalaya Bamboo Chips Limited (MBCL).

According to him, the MEDCL which was having only 12 staff, was running a lost of Rs 4 crore.

As per the Committee report, the state government had invested an amount aggregating Rs 526.17 crore in 9 SPSUs (equity: Rs 57.08 crore (5 SPSUs), Loans: Rs 67.74 crore (1 SPSU) and grants Rs 401.35 crore (7 SPSUs) during the years the accounts of these SPSUs were pending finalization.

By Our Reporter

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