With daily power cuts for more than ten hours hitting the common man including normal life, the Meghalaya Power Distribution Corporation Limited (MPDCL) has asserted that loading shedding will continue in the State till the arrival of monsoon.
In a press release, MPDCL Director said that load shedding imposed since April 2023 till date in the entire State was due to outages of NEEPCO power stations, which reduced Meghalaya shares by about 45 MW.
He also said that the water level at the Umiam reservoir has dropped and it is the lowest this year as compared to the previous years.
The Director informed that the total state generation from April 1 till May 10 was 40 per cent less as compared to the same period of previous years.
He also said that the deficient rainfall across the State and the region has affected all power stations in the Umiam Basin as well as the Myntdu Leshka.
Further, he said that the share from the Central sector generation of NEEPCO viz, Ranganadi HEP, Pare HEP, Kameng HEP, Doyang HEP and Loktak HEP of NHPC has also reduced.
“Hence, in view of the above power scenario, load shedding cannot be avoided,” the MPDCL Director said.
“With the fast depleting water level of Umiam reservoir, the power availability and its own generation has also reduced considerably and hence the load shedding will have to continue till the arrival of monsoon,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Voice of the People Party (VPP) has said that load shedding has revealed the total mismanagement of the government in the Power Department.
In a statement issued today, the party also expressed serious concern that “the State is headed by someone who is unaware and unclear of the condition that the State is in and the goal that he sets for the State”.
“During the budget session, the Chief Minister proudly stated that the MDA 2.0 government will put Meghalaya on the path of becoming a 10 million dollar economy. Can this target be achieved without power? Any person with the smallest capacity to use rational thinking will find it difficult to accept the daydream sold by this government. The load shedding of extreme nature reveals the total mismanagement of the government in the Power Department. Load shedding has affected those industries and business establishments that depend on electricity. This resulted in the loss of revenue for many of the establishments,” the VPP said.
It also said that load shedding has affected the students who have to appear for their different examinations. “In the present era where the internet has become an integral part of teaching and learning and load shedding directly means curtailing the rights of students to learn,” the VPP added.
