TURA, April 25: The state of Meghalaya is under the cusp of one of history’s worst load-shedding schedules, if not the worst in the world. Coming as is in one of the hottest months in the year, the entire collective of the region has been put to the test.
So how does a day in the life of people in Garo Hills go during what can be called the worst start to a new chapter in the political life of a new government?
Imagine eating dinner by 10 pm last night so that you can rest for the evening. You tuck into your pillow and wrap the covers on you. By the time you put yourself to sleep, it’s already 10:30 pm. You ensured you shut the windows and doors so that you can get a peaceful sleep. Lo and behold, your mind races to the fact that at 11 pm, there will be another two-hour electricity shutdown – at a time when you most desperately need sleep. Your mind begins to ponder the question, why?
At exactly 11 pm, the guy with the electric switch lever shuts down the system following which you begin to pray and once again open the windows that you so carefully closed in the hope that a breeze will put you to sleep.
After a struggle, you lull yourself to sleep by about 12:30 am and this continues to about 4 am, when the lever guy switches it off again. You get up immediately due to the weather and cuss the living daylights out of the guy but, in abject haplessness, you bid time.
The lever guy, of course, does not know that. While he was extremely prompt in shutting down the system, he takes a whole six extra minutes to turn it back on. Electricity returns at 7:06 am and you once again prepare yourself for the next startler at 8 am. You just pray it gets over quickly but then it is another two hours before electricity is restored. Once again, promptly out at 8 am and once again 2 minutes later than 10 am.
So, you have had your shower and are now ready for work. You toil your guts out between 10 am and 4 pm when once again, promptly at 4 pm, the lever guy does his thing and for the next three hours, you continue to cuss him as well as those that have forced such a fate upon you and all those in Garo Hills. At 7 pm, when the electricity returns, you get ready for the knockout punch at the end of the day at 11 pm.
This has become the typical day for residents of Garo Hills and going by the looks of how the government has taken to giving everyone a free ride, things will not get any better. What has perplexed people this time is the eerie silence of everyone.
It has been more than a month since the load-shedding was announced but none of the political parties or NGOs have even spoken a word, barring a few exceptions which only sought a reduction in the hours of load-shedding.
The 10-hour shutdown begs the question as to whether we have brought it on to ourselves or if there was an alternative. Over generations, the MeECL and its subsidiaries have been used as milch cows by successive governments so what is happening now cannot be blamed only on MDA 1.0 or 2.0.
“Just look at the scenario now. If it rains too much, electricity gets disconnected. If it does not rain, we suffer the same fate. How is it that we are the only state in the country that has overdrawn from the grid?,” asked AM Marak, a resident of Tura.
Many have now in mock frustration put up their electronic devices up for sale.
Not one to mince words, former principal of Sherwood School, Tyrone D’Brass, felt that it is a collective failure but added that it was sheer display of poor governance by the new MDA government.
“This is poor governance by the MDA and the failure of earlier successive governments. 51 years of misrule and now the claim to turn Meghalaya into a $10 billion economy. In order to get there, planning and foresight is required. This has proved that none of the Meghalaya politicians have been blessed with such talents. In fact the misleaders are bereft of any grey matter. Hence, Meghalaya finds itself in the pits,” he lamented. His thoughts are seconded by almost everyone in Garo Hills. “Maybe we are paying for electing this government. I am sure the opposition bench must be laughing themselves to sleep with the thought – ‘I told you so’. Whatever be the excuse, Meghalaya can call the Guinness Book of World records for putting its residents through 10 hours of shutdown every day,” felt another Tura resident, JD Sangma.
Interestingly, power bills, despite the 10-hour load-shedding schedule, have not come down.
When contacted on the shutdown, Power Minister AT Mondal stated that their hands were tied due to the lack of rains and also for drawing power excessively from the national grid.
“Other Himalayan states, when it gets hot, have an abundance of water due to snow melting. Assam has an alternate source of power – thermal, while our power is based simply on hydro projects in the state. The Leshka plant has been shut down due to there being no rain and the Barapani one is also faced with a water crisis. We also cannot buy more power from the grid as we have overdrawn,” said the power minister.
The question on everyone’s mind now is how did the state overdraw from the grid when even during normal times; there were at least 4-5 power cuts a day?
As per an MeECL source, overdrawing takes place when you generate more than you have paid for.
“If your requirement is say 35 MW but you overwork your turbines to produce 40 MW, you have overdrawn. You are then supposed to pay for the overdrawn MW,” informed the source.
The explanation may have been concise but given how electricity has been playing disco lights, even during normal times, where exactly did the state overdraw electricity and who benefited from it? The answers for now are not very forthcoming.
Questions have also been raised on the newly inaugurated Ganol Hydro project. Built to suffice the lot in Garo Hills, the project, despite being flagged off, has not even started operations.
“There is a snag in the project which we are trying to rectify,” informed Mondal.
An eyewitness, during the inauguration of the project, claimed that on the day of inauguration, the dam was filled to the brim. However, when they went the next day, there was no water that was being processed.
Meanwhile, latest photos of Ganol showed the dam to be filled to the brim but mainly due to water being logged there. The town, however, has been going through a dry spell in terms of both electricity and water.
“It must have been an eyewash just to claim brownie points prior to elections. The dam has already developed cracks and has not even been completed. What was the urgency of inauguration if the project itself is faulty? This gave us hope of a better future – albeit false hope,” said the eyewitness on the condition of anonymity.
Garo Hills and the entire state are going through its worst period of a heatwave and going by how things are shaping up, everyone needs to acclimatise themselves for the long haul.
Another resident, who requested anonymity, quipped on a humourous note. “We cannot rest until we have 18 hours of load shedding. After all, we sent 18 NPP leaders to lead the state,” the person said.
Another resident asked the government to do away with electricity altogether and move everyone to solar power.
“MeECL and electricity is an absolute joke in Meghalaya. Over decades, this decadent department has been giving us sleepless nights. The government should do away with electricity and move everyone to solar power. There is absolutely nothing that this government in its second innings has done right,” felt activist Maxbirth Momin.
“The only way you can get a proper sleep in Garo Hills these days is if you are drunk up to your neck. Then, of course, nothing can bother you. However, when you wake up the next day, you wake up to the ceiling fan not rotating and a splitting headache,” felt another resident.
