MeECL clarifies on power disruption

SHILLONG: MeECL has cited adverse weather conditions as the reason for frequent disruption of power in parts of city recently.
In response to the report appeared in this daily regarding the irregular supply of power, the MeECL said on Friday that during the year, the monsoon started very early and continued till October. There had been spells of incessant rains from June to September resulting in natural calamities.
” The major outages are due to fall of trees at Raj Bhavan, Mawroh near Meter Factory, near Governor’s House etc. MePDCL has taken up the matter with the Forest Department, for identification of vulnerable areas where chopping of branches, cutting of trees is required”, the PRO of MeECL said.
According to MeECL, in order to address the problem of overloading of lines and Sub-Stations resulting in frequent breakdowns, MePDCL is implementing the R-APDRP (Part-B) Scheme in 9 towns including Shillong.
“These involve augmentation and renovation of lines and sub-stations and for this, shutdown of certain lines and substations have to be taken and these also account for interruption”, MeECL said.
According to MeECL, inspite of the challenges including the problem related to construction of lines and land acquisition for new sub-stations, it is the duty of MeECL to strive for achievement of 24×7 power for all in Meghalaya.
It added that interruption of power is not due to inadequate supply of power.
However, certain interruption is inevitable due to outage of transmission lines especially during the monsoon due to lightning and weather related causes inspite of availability of water in the hydel reservoir in the State, the statement said.
Due to the adverse weather on October 21 and 21, most of the localities in Shillong and semi urban areas were facing disruption of power supply. In Shillong, major 33KV lines connected to 33/11KV substations and distribution substations were affected due to falling of trees on the lines. The 11KV lines towards Oakland and Polo from Meter Factory 33/11KV Substation were also affected.
“However, braving bad weather, the staff restored power supply”, the statement added.