By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Government’s inability to clear pending dues to NEEPCO amounting to over Rs 244 crore has further worsened the power crisis in Meghalaya since the Corporation has stopped power supply to the State.
Besides, NEEPCO, the State Government also has not paid dues worth around Rs 80 crore to the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited (NHPC).
The State Government, had, recently paid some amount of pending dues to NEEPCO and it hopes to clear some more dues which will help the MeECL to reduce the duration of load shedding, which has now been extended to six-seven hours daily, evoking sharp reactions and criticisms from all quarters.
A source from the State Power department said that the Government will find out resources to pay some of the pending dues of NEEPCO which had stopped supply of power due to the Government’s inability to clear the bills amounting to over Rs 244 crore.
The State is availing 33 MW power from NEEPCO and the agreement is that the State Government will pay the dues in installments of Rs 11 crore each month.
However, due to the delay in payment, the Government now has to pay Rs 20 crore each month to NEEPCO.
With swelling criticism over power cuts in the whole State, Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma on Monday convened a meeting to tide over the present crisis and to explore ways and means of reducing the load shedding hours.
An official source said that the meeting was attended by Power Minister Clement Marak, Chief Secretary WMS Pariat, Additional Chief Secretary in charge power, BK Dev Verma, and MeECL officials, who discussed the issue of acute shortage of power and also deliberated on means to reduce the duration of the power cuts.
The source, however, clarified that the Government had purchased power from the Delhi based Global Energy Private Limited during the election and examination period and as of now, the Government has stopped purchase of power from the private company.
The MeECL gave a presentation on the actual availability of power during the meeting and there was also a discussion on how to revamp the Corporation.
According to officials, only one unit of the Myntdu-Leshka hydel project is functioning currently due to low water level as the power project has to depend heavily on rain, though all the three units (126 MW) were made operational in the past.
The single unit, which has a capacity of 42 MW, is now running only for six hours and generates only 10 MW of power.
