North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum has demanded change of the timings of load shedding in the State and said that criminals were taking advantage of absence of electricity during night time.
“Indeed there is a direct correlation between early morning load shedding and rise in crime graphs. It has therefore become very urgent to change the time of load shedding so that during the dark hours of the night, no criminal is encouraged to take advantage of the situation,” Nongrum said today.
The MLA also proposed a change of load shedding timing and said that instead of the present timing from1 am to 5 am, load shedding can be conducted between 4 am to 7 am and from 12 noon to 1 pm.
“This is suggested keeping in mind that it would ease the situation so that criminals do not get any advantage,” Nongrum said, adding that it is the duty of the State government to reduce crimes and ensure the safety and security of people.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today hinted that the load shedding may be withdrawn soon in the State.
In his tweet, Sangma said that with the functioning of the New Umtru unit and resuming of supply from the OTPC plant, the power situation is likely to improve and load shedding has been reduced to about two hours on an average.
“We are awaiting the completion of the repair of the second unit of Stage IV Umiam before we take a call of lifting the load completely which is likely to be soon,” he said.
It may be mentioned that load shedding was imposed from April 30 due shortage of 110 megawatts of power in the State.
The State government said load shedding was resorted to since units of three national companies that Meghalaya buys power from are not functioning at present.
It also said that the Leshka, Umiam and Umtru power projects are either undergoing periodic maintenance or are not functioning for various reasons. This has caused a shortfall of 42MW of power from Leshka and 21MW from Umtru.
We are awaiting the completion of the repair of the second unit of Stage IV Umiam before we take a call of lifting the load completely which is likely to be soon
— Conrad K Sangma (@SangmaConrad) July 10, 2022
