Shillong, Aug 7 (PTI) The Meghalaya government on Friday decided to terminate a 13-year-old agreement with a private power producer after the 270 MW Umngot Hydro Electric Project "failed" to take off.

The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma here.

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"The Cabinet has approved the proposal to terminate the Memorandum of Association (MoA) signed by the government of Meghalaya with M/s JP Power Ventures Limited for implementation of the project and also that that the fees of Rs 1.35 crore need not be refunded to the firm," Power Minister James K Sangma said.

The MoA was signed way back in 2007, he said.

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"To ensure that the project does not hang in limbo, we decided to clear the status of the MoA once and for all," he said. Mentioning that there were various factors due to which the project had not materialised, the minister said, financial problems being faced by the private power firm was the main reason.

Whether there will be any new Expression of Interest (EoI) floated for the project, Sangma said, "We are looking at it but the decision taken today was only about terminating the MoA."

James Sangma, also the spokesperson of the government, said that the Cabinet has approved a proposal for implementation of a World Bank funded Meghalaya Health System Strengthening (MHSS) project for development of the health sector in the state over a five-year period.

"The Rs 352 crore project will be funded in a 80:20 ratio by the World Bank and the state government," he said.

The Cabinet has also cleared a proposal to improve gender participation in implementation of the MGNREGA by reserving seats for women in village employment councils (VEC).

In order to have more gender parity, women will be elected as secretary of VECs on a rotational basis, the minister said. "It is required as representation of women in the VECs is quite poor," Sangma said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)