Umiam Lake
Shillong, Feb 25 : Students in Meghalaya will find no respite from long hours of power cuts even during examinations, with the state struggling to make up for the severe power deficit.
Since the state mainly depends on the Umiam hydel project, the low water level has hit power generation, forcing Meghalaya to shell out Rs 10 crore every month to buy power, said chief secretary W.M.S. Pariat.
The deficit spells bad news for examinees across the state.
While examinations have already begun at the North Eastern Hills University, examinations conducted by the Meghalaya Board of School Education will begin next week.
The chief secretary said the government has been also unable to provide sufficient electricity to the industries set up at Byrnihat in Ri Bhoi because of the acute power shortage.
The Meghalaya State Electricity Board began resorting to power cuts on February 11 after the water level in Umiam went down drastically.
“We were hopeful that we would commission the Myntdu Leshka hydel project (126MW) by December last year,” Pariat said. However, last year’s flash flood caused partial damage to the Myntdu Leshka hydel project site, resulting in the delay in commissioning of the first unit of the hydel power project.
As the thermal and mini hydel projects are yet to be tapped, Meghalaya has to depend entirely on Umiam hydel power project (175MW) to meet the power needs of both industries and domestic consumers.
The current demand for power in Meghalaya is over 600MW.
Though the state has a hydro-power potential of around 3,000MW, lack of funds has stood in the way of tapping the power potential.
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