By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: A rise in the water level at the Umiam reservoir is good news for the State as far as avoiding load shedding at this time of the year is concerned.
The current water level at Umiam stands at 3218.24 feet and the reservoir has a capacity to hold upto 3220 feet of water.
MeECL engineer Elias Lyngdoh informed The Shillong Times that at the moment the State has enough power to meet its requirements. According to Lyngdoh, there is no immediate threat of load shedding but if the water level at the Umiam reservoir comes down drastically, the MeECL would be forced to go for it.
“We are saving water in the reservoir for the dry season,” he added.
Meghalaya has available power resource of over 260 MW including the first and second unit of Myntdu Leshka power project.
However, the first unit of the project is currently down due to technical snags.
To put the power scenario in order, the State Government is also relying on its share of power from the 726 MW Palatana project undertaken by the ONGC along with Tripura Power Corporation (OTPC) which is set to be commissioned this year.
“If Palantana project does not come we may have to go for load shedding,” the MeECL official warned.
Meanwhile, the State also gets a share of around 100 MW from the national as well as the eastern power grid for which it has to pay nearly Rs 21 crore every month.
Reacting to a query on the water from Umiam being pumped to Army establishments in Umroi, the official said that only 1.5 litre of water per second per unit is pumped to the Cantonment whereas the MeECL station requires 7000 litre per second per unit.
It may be mentioned that almost every year, the residents in the State have to bear the brunt of load shedding and students are among the worst affected.
