By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The perennial problem of power disruption in Garo Hills is yet to be solved since at present there is no alternative for transmission line except an old 132 KV line from Shillong- Nangalbibra and with the Government’s plan to start the alternate Agya-Nangalbibra transmission line facing rough weather, Garo Hills will still have to depend on the 30 year-old transmission line from Shillong.
“Since there is a court case pending at present which was filed by a land owner in Assam who refused to part with his land for the construction of towers, we still have to rely on the old 132 KV line from Shillong”, Power Minister AT Mondal told The Shillong Times here on Monday.
Mondal was making the statement a day after Garo Hills was yet again plunged into darkness from Sunday at 4pm due to a fault in the transmission line and power was only restored on Monday morning.
Mondal said that power went off at 4pm on Sunday due to some technical snags and it was restored at 1am the next day but the lines could not be charged since there was no telephone connectivity in the area.
The minister could not contact the workers to go to the spot and it was only on Monday morning when the line was charged, power supply in the whole of Garo Hills was restored.
“If the Agya-Nangalbibra line is set up, the Power department would not have to depend on the present 132 KV line to transmit power to Garo Hills”, said Mondal who further added that three towers have already been erected in Assam but till now, the wires could not be attached due to the pending court case.
“We are however, exploring a diversion in that particular place to avoid controversies and delays in setting up a new 132 KV line for Garo Hills”, added Mondal.