From Our Correspondent
Agartala: The overall power supply situation in the North Eastern region has worsened due to prolonged dry spells leading to falling water level in rivers and reservoirs of all the major hydel power projects.
Speaking to media, Power Minister said that there is no prospect in overcoming the power crisis with dwindling power generation.
“The government is trying its best to tackle the situation, even by buying power at high rate when the electricity is available”, he said.
“The water level in reservoirs of the power project has gone down drastically, severely affecting their power production capacity. The situation might deteriorate further if the region did not receive rain within the next few weeks’ he added.
Dey said that major hydel projects like Nagaland’s Doyang (generation capacity 75 MW), Assam’s Koplili I and Koplili II ( 200 MW and 25 MW) and Khandogn (50 MW), Manipur’s Loktak (105 MW) and Arunachal,s Ranganadi (405 MW) – have witnessed their generation dip by a fourth to a one – fifth.
The state is schedule to get around 105 MW power from different hydel and thermal power projects of the North East region.
Speaking about current share availability status from hydel projects from other NE states, Dey said that Khandung power gives 1.1 MW to the state; Kapili II project gives 6.77 MW and so on.
The entire share availability sums up to around 55 MW which coupled with 90 MW of the states own generation status, adds to 45 MW, 20 MW of this stock has to be given away to Mizoram and Manipur as share of North Eastern Council (NEC) any way, leaving 125 MW deficit on average.
Dumbur hydel project has been lying unproductive since February due to shortage of water pressure in the reservoir as well. Dey further said the average demand till April 10 was found 230 MW and rising.
The government is ensuring the power –cuts are the only way to tackle the crisis as of now, given that use of electric pump sets have had steep rise in both drinking water and irrigation sector during last two months.