TURA: Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) on Wednesday rescheduled the load-shedding hours in view of the rising crime in the region.
According to the new schedule, load-shedding in the entire West and South West Garo Hills will be from 5-7 am. For the other three districts of East, South and North Garo Hills load shedding will be from 4-6 am and 1-3 pm in the afternoon.
The rescheduling of the load-shedding hours comes after requests were made to MeECL to change the timings.
Benedic R Marak, Raksamgre MLA and co-chairman of the Meghalaya State Planning Board, had urged Power Minister James K Sangma to direct MeECL to reschedule load-shedding hours during the day.
“It has come to my notice that there has been a rise in various crimes all over Garo Hills during load shedding hours at night which is causing fear among the citizens. I would like to request that load shedding is done during the day,” Marak had said in his letter.
Catholic-run schools and colleges in Garo Hills remained closed on Wednesday as a mark of protest against the frequent attacks on Catholic parishes and institutions in the last few weeks. The shutdown was also aimed at demanding the immediate arrest of the culprits.
As many as 100 Catholic schools and colleges, including Don Bosco and Loyola College, in the region showed solidarity.
Other schools like Educere School in Williamnagar, schools along the road from Dadeng to Phulbari, Rongreng Model School and Chidekgre Robinus T Sangma School also cooperated with the protest and remained closed.
The shutdown comes after armed dacoits broke into six Catholic parishes over a few weeks and assaulted priests, besides looting and vandalising the establishments.
Taking advantage of the darkness during load-shedding hours, armed dacoits had targeted the parishes at Dawagre, Chokpot, Dalu, Garobadha, Tikrikilla and Samanda.
