ITANAGAR, Oct 11: Former chief minister Nabam Tuki in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday requested him to reconsider the Centre’s decision to merge, disinvest and privatize the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), in the greater interest of the people of Northeast India.
Tuki said the Centre’s decision would result in social, cultural and demographic imbalance in the NE states.
“The news of merging, disinvestment and privatization of the NEEPCO, being circulated in various national media, is a matter of serious concern. This has created a fear psychosis not only among the employees of the NEEPCO but also among all stakeholders and beneficiaries, especially the project-affected families, unemployed youths, vendors, daily wage labourers, etc,” Tuki said.
He said “the roadmap for public sector is developed to act as an instrument for self-reliant economic growth, so as to address low level of employment, regional imbalances in economic development, and infrastructure facilities. As per data available in the MoU with the MOP, GoI, the NEEPCO’s net worth is Rs 6,395 crore for 2018-19, upto September 2018. As such, 95 percent of the employees from the northeastern states are dependent on it.
“The disinvestment/privatization of the NEEPCO will grab away the rights, privileges and sentiments of the indigenous people of the northeastern states. This will be against your coined slogan, ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas’,” Tuki said.
