Border residents seek NOC to get power from B’desh

SHILLONG: Concerned over irregular supply of power, many border residents in East Jaintia Hills, want Bangladesh to provide power to the neighbouring villages.
With lack of faith in MeECL, the Seng Samla Shnong Umkiang (SSSU) after a discussion, decided to urge the state government to give No Objection Certificate so that they can make a request to the neighbouring country Bangladesh to supply electricity.
“The Government of Meghalaya cannot give us proper service hence in the best interest of the people , it would be great if the Government gives us a certificate so that we can take electricity from Bangladesh”, said Kynjaimon Amse, the spokesperson of SSSU.
Amse said a formal request in this regard will be made soon and hoped that the government will accept the request as early as possible so that the people will not be affected again.
What irked the SSSU is the poor service of the MeECL (Distribution) in Umkiang village and adjoining areas.
The government had provided electricity in Umkiang village and its adjoining villages in East Jaintia Hills, but the service is not satisfactory, Amse said.
“The poor service has affected the people of our area and all the domestic activities have been hampered”, he said.
According to Amse, since the very first day when the electricity reached Umkiang village and other nearby villages, its supply was very irregular.
“We hardly receive even five hours of electricity in a day. Many times, Kuliang, Umkiang, Pyrtakuna, Dona Skul, Dona Umbluh  and Ratacherra get power at 6 pm only to go off at mid night”, Amse said.
He said the villages remain in darkness for weeks and months and though the supply of electricity is very irregular, the monthly electricity charge is over Rs. 650.
“If our people are late in paying the bills they are penalised”, he said.
The village authority and others had made several complaints and representations before the appropriate authority to address the problem of irregular and erratic supply of electricity to the border villages, yet no positive action has been taken to solve the matter, he said.
Students in different schools in the villages are the worst affected due to the unavailability of electricity, he said. Amse pointed out that several villages were in darkness from Good Friday till date.
“However, Lumshnong,a hub of cement factories, never witnessed any power outage, thus leaving us to think that MeECL may have transferred the share of our electricity to the cement plants in the nearby areas”, Amse said.
The MeECL is least interested to take care of the concerns of the rural population, he said.
“ We have made several requests to take corrective measures, yet we are let down again and again”, Amse said, adding Meghalaya government has failed to provide equal service to the border residents just like in Shilllong.
“Just imagine the situation if Shillong is to be in darkness for two days without electricity. There would have been a hue and cry and engineers would have rushed and solved the problem but we do not understand why the government does not take care of the need of the rural population”, Amse deplored.