Amid raging public anger regarding the latest load shedding resorted in the State, Power Minister James Sangma has informed that the State government has paid the power purchase dues to Neepco and said that load shedding will be discontinued in the next 48 hours.
“The Government of Meghalaya has been working hard to look into the matter and today we have resolved the issue. Payment has been credited to Neepco. However, due to procedural issues, Neepco is unable to cancel the regulation notice immediately,” Sangma said in a statement to the media today.
“We understand and empathise with the students who are preparing for their examinations and we regret the inconvenience caused to the public in general. We assure the public and consumers that load shedding will be discontinued in the next 48 hours,” Sangma added.
Meanwhile, sources informed this newspaper that an amount of Rs 280 crore was availed by Meghalaya today under the Liquidity Infusion Scheme of the Central government for payment of the power dues to Neepco.
Many people have expressed their anger on the frequent load shedding resorted to by MeECL since February this year.
“We have paid our monthly electricity bills in time and regularly. Where has our money gone?” Christine K. Diengdoh, a resident of the city said.
Many other power consumers said that corruption was the reason for the power cuts even as they blamed the present MDA Government for its failure on all fronts.
“Every day we read in the newspapers about massive corruption in MeECL. The Power Minister has no answer to this or maybe he chose not to answer for reasons best known to him,” Bankhraw Kharkongor said.
