5hr power cut till rains in Meghalaya

Acute electricity crunch forces move

in Darkness Shillong, Feb 17 : The daily five-hour power cut introduced in the whole of Meghalaya by the state electricity board since the past two weeks will continue till this monsoon. The principal secretary, power, B.K. Dev Verma, today said because of acute power shortage the state had no other choice than to go ahead with the decision.  “The situation could be eased only when we get sufficient water in the Umiam lake which is the only source of power generation in the state.” The government spent Rs 22 crore last year to buy power, he said. According to Verma, there is no proposal at the moment on the part of the government to buy power from outside the state and the power cut will continue till the Umiam dam is filled up with sufficient water. At present there is regular power cut from 1am to 4am daily and again for two hours during the day at different times in various localities. “As we have incurred huge losses to purchase power, the government is not in a position to buy power to tide over the crisis,” the official said.  The only hope for the Meghalaya State Electricity Board is to wait for the commissioning of the 80MW Leshka hydel power project in the Jaintia Hills.  The Leshka power project would be commissioned only by September or October, Verma said. Though the state produces 185.2MW of hydel power, the actual requirement is 600MW because of the demand from the industries set up in Byrnihat. The state government has not taken up any new projects after more than six power projects with private companies were scrapped by the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) government last year as they failed to follow the prescribed norms.  “The empowered committee will meet soon to negotiate with some of these private companies to start the power projects after they accept the modified memorandum of understanding,” Verma said.  According to the board, there has not been any proper power development planning for which Meghalaya has become a power-deficit state.  Only 185.2MW of hydel potential has been tapped till date and no major power project has been constructed since 2002.  According to the board, the government feels that the vast hydro potential of about 3,000MW needs to be harnessed at the earliest.