Shillong, Jun 15: Residents, nokmas, and community leaders from the Balachanda-Rajabala area of West Garo Hills have experienced unprecedented power cuts, with interruptions reported over 30 times a day.
The community members have issued a warning of public protests if the Meghalaya Power Distribution Corporation Limited (MePDCL) does not take immediate action within 10 days.
A memorandum submitted to the sub-divisional officer, Selsella Technical Branch highlighted that the frequent outages and persistent low voltage are severely affecting daily life, businesses, agriculture, and essential services in Balachanda, Rajabala, Hallidayganj, and surrounding areas.
Local residents attribute the blackouts to the overloading of a 5,000 kVA feeder transformer responsible for supplying approximately 140 distribution transformers, leading to frequent tripping and extended blackouts.
Residents also pointed out that another similar transformer serving nearby regions only supports about 65 transformers yet faces significantly fewer outages.
Furthermore, the memorandum alleges irregularities in billing practices by Sai Computers Limited, which reportedly raised bills without notice and imposed fines during inspections without informing local authorities.
The community has urged MePDCL to conduct a comprehensive load assessment, enhance maintenance efforts, and review billing challenges.
