The common man should be informed ahead of time of the schedule of power cuts that the state is facing and not be subjected to random changes in the timetable, a concerned government official, who wished to remain anonymous, told Highland Post today.
The experience of residents of at least one Shillong locality saw the lights go off – at the start of the current load-shedding period – at 1am. This was then abruptly changed to 12:30am and last night became 12am.
“We are not even saying that load-shedding should not be there but the timing should be in the public domain so that the consumers are prepared,” the official said. “If you know the timing of load-shedding in your area then you know what to do before the lights go out but at present no one knows and this is a huge inconvenience.”
He failed to understand why the concerned authorities have been reluctant to place the timetable in the public domain, especially as the guidelines of the regulatory commission make it mandatory to do so.
“At present the load shedding across the state is happening randomly without any information, which has inconvenienced us all and the consumer has the right to know,” he said.
