Khekiye K. Sema
CONTINUED- 35
Of the three turbines only two had been commissioned from the start, which hardly operated for less than four months and had shut down with assortment of mechanical failures. The earlier Power Minister, Mr.Therie’s brother, who was not a certified transporter, was nevertheless given this privilege, as is wont to happen in Nagaland, and as luck would have it, the long trailer carrying the third turbine had had an unfortunate accident at the time of transportation…..
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]PDRP was finally salvaged from the unnecessary distortion and was set for implementation in keeping with the regulated operational norm of the Ministry of Power, GoI, but the problem was far from over. The lowest tendered rate was still way above the sanctioned amount of Rs.36.00 crores…(not Rs.39.50 crores as was reflected in my earlier account). A trip to Delhi became imperative for a consultation with the PGCIL and the Ministry of Power, GoI, to see whether additional fund requirement as per the tendered amount could be accommodated. We were however informed that a good number of other States were facing the same complications and were advised to work within the sanctioned amount and take up the balance works from the second phase. As a result, prioritization and elimination of works in each of the packages A, B, C and D was carried out before the issue of work orders, to keep our expenditure within the sanctioned amount.Having completed this process we shifted our attention to another equally critical problem of stabilising power supply on a more consistent scale… power generation. We had a few small hydro power generating sectors which were not functioning at the optimal level. Telengsao project in Mon District was repaired and made functional but its 1MW output was not about to make a dent in our overall power requirement. The biggest hydro project at Likimro with a generating capacity of 24 MW had broken down a few months after commissioning and was lying idle when I took charge of the Department. Along with a few senior Engineers we camped at site for a few days and made a thorough field study of the malfunctioning. Part of the problem of Likimro project had to do with very poor support infrastructure. There was only one small three roomed Rest House and another hill type building for the Engineer in charge. The officers and staffs posted here were literally marooned in a nowhere land and it was humanly difficult to expect any dedicated, disciplined management. They had to go all the way to Kiphire for their elementary monthly provisions negotiating desperate seasonal roads that could hardly be described as roads. In contrast, what we saw in China was an eye opening experience. Mini townships were being established with comfortable accommodation facilities for the management officers and staffs, library, recreation centres, shopping centres, including schools for the children of the staffs etc. all pre-constructed around the micro 25 MW power generating stations as a part and parcel of the project package before the commissioning. No matter how far flung these projects were, the elementary comforts were ensured and therefore families were living together at the work site. While budget constraints do impact on planning, the lack of realistic foresight was equally glaring in our case. Our Officers and staffs were staying in makeshift rural housing facility not much better than that of a poor villager’s establishment. Likimro’s failure was partially because of the management and maintenance lapses on the part of the department. Of the three turbines only two had been commissioned from the start, which hardly operated for less than four months and had shut down with assortment of mechanical failures. The earlier Power Minister, Mr.Therie’s brother, who was not a certified transporter, was nevertheless given this privilege, as is wont to happen in Nagaland, and as luck would have it, the long trailer carrying the third turbine had had an unfortunate accident at the time of transportation. Major parts of the equipment had been critically damaged and these parts were not readily available…having to be imported. We had no spare budget to procure it anyway. The total assessed cost for reviving this power station had come up to a whopping Rs.21.00 crores. The big bosses upstairs were all verbally keen to have it revived but were unprepared to put the money where their mouths were. Not being a magician the best I could do was to repeatedly persist and keep the subject alive months after months. The inability on the part of the Government to sustain the management cost on a consistent bases gave birth to an idea of privatising this project. Tender was floated to test the waters, on the basis that once the plant was made operational by the Government, the interested private party would take over the generation plant and thereafter, run it independently on their own investment without further cost to the Government. They would get a commercially viable percentage but only for the power generated units. It would be in their interest therefore to keep the generation going. While bids were received, most of the tenderers insisted on some managerial cost sharing responsibility with the Government and also wanted that such pre-assessed cost should be paid in advance… with the exception of one firm called NEC Energy Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Sapu Bhatacharjee, the Proprietor of this Company, agreed on the terms and conditions and was therefore given the clearance to run this project on a lease for ten years. At that time a good number of critics raised their voices against the Government for handing over Government asset to a private firm, but had this not been done, Likimro would have been synonymous to a museum rotting in the wilderness today. Because it is being run by a private firm, it is generating power which has been significantly augmenting the desperate shortfall…or else the load shedding time would have doubled without it. Anyway, the Government finally agreed to grant an amount of Rs.7.00 crores against a demand of Rs.21.00 crores to revive this project before handing it over to the NEC Pvt. Ltd. Beggars couldn’t be choosers and so we braced ourselves to have the job done the best we could.
Meanwhile, there was another cabinet reshuffle. Mr. Imkong Imchen was shifted to School Education Department that he had been angling for some time and Mr. Doshihe was assigned Power Department as a Parliamentary Secretary (PS). By now Er. D. Shishak had become the Chief Engineer after Er. S.I. Lonkumar’s retirement. Immediately on joining, the first initiative taken by Mr. Doshihe was to order the Chief Engineer to fix an official meeting of the Directorate Officers. I was kept out of the loop. The Chief Engineer reported to me saying that the Parliamentary Secretary (PS) had ordered lunch to be prepared for his entourage consisting of 10-15 political agents including the Press, during the discussion on departmental issues. No Minister or Parliamentary Secretary had ever conducted a serious official discussion of the department in the presence of their political agents and the press…this was the first of its kind. One could perhaps say he was thinking out of the box…a confused one. The instruction to the Chief Engineer was simple: provide normal hospitality of tea and snacks but not lunch. We were running a Government department not a restaurant. It was also most unbecoming on the part of the Parliamentary Secretary to want an official discussion on the inner detail workings of the Department in the presence of his political agents and the Press, which was of no concern of theirs. Chief Engineer was therefore instructed to only facilitate the general information but to deviate from the serious issues of the department. Er. D. Shishak was apprehensive that this might upset the Parliamentary Secretary…”Yes it would” I said, “but the PS is expected to maintain a minimal official decorum”. Seeing the discomfort of Er. Shishak I told him to let the PS know that he was acting on the specific order of the Commissioner & Secretary, if posted before the firing squad. He left with a nervous smile but did exactly as he was bid…. which offended the mighty political ego of the first timer from Atoizu constituency with a lopsided enthusiasm for publicity. Though he vented his annoyance to the Chief Engineer, the PS never raised this subject with me in the aftermath. It was however an obvious lesson that he had learned quickly: that as long as Khekiye was in charge of this department, he would not be able to accomplish the commonly harboured motivation that most politicians possess. It was perhaps all the more uncomfortable for him because we happen to be from the same constituency…Atoizu…and presumed that the habitual ‘under the table’ discussions that would surely take place, would become public knowledge. Like the women folks becoming a misfit during the headhunting days of our ancestors, I automatically became a misfit in his intended variety of ‘headhunting’. Power department was potentially set to generate liabilities, not power, like most of the other departments under the Government of Nagaland. A few months later…7th June 2005…the expected transfer order arrived…I escaped the liability landslide.
The day I handed over the charge to my ‘collegoose’ Mr. Temjen Toy, we ran into an unpleasant incident. I got a frantic call from Er. Kimaba…he was the officer in charge of Likimro power station. The NSCN(K) had got a wind of the Rs.7.00 crores being sanctioned for the revival of this power plant and wanted their 5% commission/ national tax. Engineer Kimaba was not in a position to make such a huge commitment on his own and so, had expressed his inability. I did not know that he had been kidnapped a day before as he was leaving Chief Engineer’s office in Kohima. He was breaking down, desperately begging me to rescue him. Now that I had officially handed over charge of the department, it was technically Mr. Temjen’s baby but I deeply felt abandoning an officer in his hour of need, someone who had worked under me, would be unpardonable. I calmed Er. Kimaba with an assured that I would have him released at all cost and then asked him to hand over the phone to his captors. With much arrogance the Town Commander of NSCN(K) spoke to me in Sumi dialect and threatened to eliminate my officer if the demand was not met. With as much calm as I could master, I requested him to bring my officer with him to my residence and have the matter sorted out…and he agreed. Meanwhile, a relative of Mr. Kitovi, the then boss man of NSCN(K) had also heard of this incident and had dropped by. He had Mr. Kitovi’s phone number and so I decided to speak to him. It was carefully explained that the department had actually asked for Rs.21.00 crores needed to revive the power station but was given only Rs.7.00 crores which was far too less to have the job done. With the tax being demanded it was neigh impossible for the department to cope with the work and that I would be more inclined to surrender the amount if his cadre were to insist. Power generation was in everyone’s interest including theirs and should make an exception in this case. Mr. Kitovi was unaware of this happenings but he immediately understood the situation. He assured me that he would get back to his people and ask them to abstain from insisting on this demand. I thanked him and then waited for the Town Commander to come home. Mr. Temjen was also informed and invited to this party. That evening, I felt quite sorry and angry to see Er. Kimaba in such a sorry state, both mentally and physically. Even in my house, the NSCN(K) sat him in between their cadre personals, as if he would attempt an escape. The Town Commander was briefed about the background of the case as I had shared with Mr. Kitovi and then let him know that I had had a personal conversation with their Boss, who was of the view that this tax should not be levied. The Town Commander lost his cool…he said he was the man in the field and it was his prerogative and not Kitovi’s…a clear case of National insubordination in the face of potential National revenue that would all be spent in some National booze joint in some National corner. Be that as it may, he was seriously advised to consult his boss on this…that the new Secretary, having just taken over the department that very day, would not be in a knowledgeable position to give him any commitment either. Mr. Temjen Toy also toyed with him in the same line in confirmation that he would need time to pragmatically resolve the matter. With that the meeting was over. The Town Commander motioned Er. Kimaba to follow him as they were about to leave but I put my arm on my Engineer’s shoulder and refused to allow my officer to follow him. He couldn’t do much, knowing well that I too was a Sumi and had direct access to his Boss. He left fuming, awkwardly unable to resort to aggressive disagreement even though he and his boys were armed. That was my last act in the department that I was leaving behind. The rest of the story as to what did transpire thereafter, belongs to Mr. Temjen Toy to tell it in his own sweet time…after retirement perhaps.
I was now moving out on my 25th transfer in a 31 years of service to take charge of Tourism & Arts and Culture…inconsequential departments which most of my collegoose would look at as a punishment posting at that time. Wasn’t I born lucky?
The writer is a retired IAS Officer,
Forest Colony, Kohima.
