By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Power Minister Clement Marak on Thursday said that the line fault locator will be applied during this week on the Mawlai-Nongalbibra transmission line in order to detect the vulnerable sections of the line before occurrence of any fault.
The Minister made the statement on the floor of the House while replying to a call attention motion tabled by legislator Clifford Marak (GNC) with reference to the news item published in The Shillong Times.
The Minister also said that the shutdown of the 132 KV Mawlai-Nongalbibra line will be taken up tentatively on March 23 during day time for preventive maintenance work of the line.
It may be mentioned that Garo Hills is reeling under power disruption and this power shortage is affecting the students’ community who are appearing for their Board examinations.
According to the Power Minister, besides the existing sub divisional maintenance offices located at Nongstoin and Nangalbibra, three transit camps will be immediately set up at Riangdo, Shallang and Rongjeng areas.
“These camps will be equipped with tools and plants, vehicles and other materials for immediate restoration work,” he added.
While referring to the power shortage in Garo Hills, the Minister said that alternative power supply to Garo Hills will be possible after the completion of the bay extension at 132 KV Agia along with the installation of one transformer.
The work had been taken up by the Assam Electricity Grid Corporation Ltd in 2011 and most of the works have been completed, the Minister said, adding that the remaining work is expected to be completed in August this year. The approved cost of the project is Rs 11.43 crore.
Frustrated over the frequent disruption of power supply to Garo Hills angry locals had gone on a rampage in Williamnagar town attacking the control room of the MeECL office on Tuesday night breaking chairs and tables.
While providing the statistics of power interruption, the Minister said that there were five interruptions in the year 2012-13 and seven failures till date.
He also said that the MeECL (then MeSEB) had started the construction of a 132 KV single circuit line on double circuit towers connecting Nongalbibra with Agia (92.15 KM) in Assam in 2007 to improve the power reliability in Garo Hills.
“This line will form a vital part of inter-connecting the Meghalaya Grid with the Lower Assam Grid for power supply,” he said, while adding that most of the work in the line have been completed expect for a section of the line where problem exists for obtaining Right of Way at Gangdubi, Assam, despite assurance of assistance given by the Assam government.
