SHILLONG: Political parties in Meghalaya are usually busy with political issues like ILP and inter-state border dispute, but the UDP has decided to keep itself occupied with a more mundane issue touching the everyday lives of the people of the State – the frequent power cuts.
The party is planning to organize a mass movement if the State Government fails to address the erratic power situation.
“We would be compelled to organise a mass public movement if the power scenario in the State does not improve,” UDP legislator Jemino Mawthoh said here on Wednesday.
He said that the State Government was taking the people of the State for a ride and criticized the MeECL on its decision to impose additional hours of load shedding by citing reasons of power shortage and the decline of the water level at the Umiam main reservoir.
“The common people are already suffering with the present load shedding. There is no justification for MeECL to impose additional hours of load shedding,” he said in a statement.
He said that the present power crisis in the State was due to the failure of the Government to have a backup plan to address this kind of power crisis.
“The Government had invested large amount of funds on the Myntdu-Leshka Hydel Electric Project which has failed to improve the power scenario in the State,” Mawthoh said.
While the Government had been boasting about their plans in terms of power generation, Mawthoh said that the present situation proved otherwise.
Mawthoh said that the load shedding had affected the water supply in many parts of the city since power was required for pumping of the water into the main reservoir from the sources before distribution to the various households.
“Many of the educational institutions especially those having Science laboratories are not able to function on account of this load shedding,” the Nongthymmai legislator said. “As a public representative, I have received complaints not only from people of my constituency but from other areas as well.”
The legislator also questioned the decision of the Government to privatize the MeECL, for which people have to suffer.
“I would also like to know the status of the power projects which were handed over to several private developers,” he said.
Mawthoh said faulty management had led to this power crisis. “I have been informed that the MeECL has pending dues of Rs. 650 crore which has to be paid to NEEPCO,” he said.
