SHILLONG: As the state gets ready to be plunged in intermittent darkness from Monday, the residents have rued the sorry state of affairs and termed it as unfortunate.
The Shillong Times solicited the views of some residents to hear from them on what they have to say on the 8 hours of load shedding which will affect the entire state. In Shillong, the timing will be from 3 am to 6.30 am, 12.30 pm to 4 pm and 11 pm to 12 am.
Teacher by profession, Kular Khongjirem said that as the power cut will hinder the students who are to prepare their SSLC/HSSLC examinations, the MeECL should make some considerations for the students’ interests.
“In fact, Meghalaya is endowed with vast potential of hydro power, wind power and solar energy and the government should harness them like in other developed parts of the world. We are living in the age of modern sciences and technology, we are not lacking in power and if we are able to use them properly and economically, we will go forward”, he said.
Terming the situation as unfortunate, environmentalist Naba Bhattacharjee said that each and every sector of governance which includes service component like power supply must have a comprehensive policy and road map of delivery mechanism.
“We do not even know what is the reason for power cut. The government needs to take a call on this seriously. Why is this happening? No one is answering when we seek clarification”, he said.
According to him, power deficiency cannot be overcome by power cuts and asserted that there has to be a holistic generation and distribution mechanism in place.
“In our state, no new power generation schemes whether hydel, thermal or renewable like solar are in the pipeline to meet increasing gap between supply and demand.
Meeting the deficiency through borrowing from central grid is not the answer. Under present circumstances privatisation of power supply in Shillong and other major towns appear to be the only viable solution in sight. Vast potential of hydel power in the state is yet to be harnessed”, he said.
A concerned citizen, AD Sangma from South West Garo Hills said that in his decadal long stay in Shillong, this is the longest ever power cut being exercised by the department under any government.
“Even in the office, we cannot print important letters and forward on time. My dad’s advance medical reimbursement was pending due to power failure. No means to keep warm as I am averse to using charcoal chullah. As a concerned citizen, I am worried about the city hospitals especially the patients who are to undergo exigent medical procedures. Even online business is affected”, he said.
He observed that the ministers and other representatives are equipped with inverters/solar inverters to light up the house and watch television to kill their time. “This government is good in diverting everything. They divert schemes from one village to another (like polytechnic college issue in Kapasipara to Gasuapara), divert media questions from one spokesperson to another, defer payment of employees’ arrears, bring nothing but spend everything. They’re ruining the state in power sector like Marie Antoinette during French Revolution”, Sangma said.
Again, Gosper Revive Nongrum, the Sordar of Nohron village falling under Mawkynrew Block which is over 64 kms away from Shillong, said that the power cut will affect the people as most of them use electricity for cooking and other works.
People use electricity since it saves time rather than using the chullah as they like to go for their work very early in the morning.
