SHILLONG, May 4: Almost like an annual festival, load-shedding has become a regular phenomenon in Meghalaya. But while people continue to bear the brunt of this exercise, the Meghalaya government seems to have no concrete solution to this issue apart from hopes that it would rain regularly.
Speaking to media persons here on the ongoing load-shedding in the city, Power Minister Prestone Tynsong lamented that the water level in Umiam lake is already very low.
“And then we are totally dependable on Leksha (dam) so we have less supply of power and ultimately we have to buy power,” the minister said.
He said that the market price of per unit comes to around Rs 11 to 12 when government buys power, whereas MeECL sells power to its consumers at Rs 6 per unit.
“You need to understand that MeECL has to bear the losses so now we are going ahead with the load-shedding though it’s only for one hour,” Tynsong said.
Urging the consumers to bear with them, the government hopes that there will not be load-shedding like previous years if there is regular rain.
“In the previous year, load-shedding was up to three hours or four hours, sometimes five hours also. We will not cross one hour. This is temporary and we will make sure that in few days time, once the water level goes up, we will be able to remove the load-shedding in the entire state,” he said.
