IMPHAL, March 27: Out of a total population of 20 lakh (approx.) in the valley districts of the state, there are only 1.5 lakh (approx.) of electricity consumers, while Mizoram with a total population of 9 lakh (approx.) has 1.7 lakh (approx.) consumers, stated addl chief engineer, electricity dept, L Priyokumar during a meeting of the State Advisory Committee for Manipur of the Joint electricity Regulatory Commission for Manipur and Mizoram.
The meeting was held this morning at the State guest house, Sanjengthong.
The addl chief engineer also added that the fact shows that there are many unauthorized consumers in the state.
By August 2012 Pallantana power, Tripura will be commission, from which Manipur’s allotted share will be increased by 20 Megawatts, the addl CE added.
He also added that the state government has added an additional Rs 20 crore to the Rs 15 crore which is normally spent to buy electricity for the state consumption in a month.
Today’s meeting was attended by H. Bihari Singh, chairman, JERC (M&M) and other members including C Hmingthanzuala, IAS (rtd), Ng Chittranjan Singh, scientific officer, Director MANIREDA, Dr. Ch. Ibohal Meitei, associate professor, Manipur Institude of Mangement Studies, MU, Dr. L. Sadananda Singh, general secretary, Senior Citizens Society, Manipur, Elanagbam Dolendra Singh, Advisor, All Manipur Power Consumer’s Association, Irengbam Arun, resident editor, IFP, S Chaothi Singh, president, Manipur Industries Union, A. Chhawnmawia, IDES (retd.), Secretary, JERC (M&M), Richard Zothankima, Assistant Secretary, JERC (M&M) and Shyamsunder Singh, Chief Engineering, JERC (M&M).
The state official department was represented by L Priyokumar, addl CE (power II).
During the meeting, different aspects were discussed to improve the power supply in the state.
The meeting started with the confirmation of the minutes of the 7th SAC Meeting held on November, 2011. While discussing the second agenda “Present Power Supply position and Initiatives of the Department to tide over the situation” during its 2nd SAC meeting on October 30, 2009, the SAC emphasized the need for increasing the number of hours of power supply in the state to at least 8 hours in the day time in the interest of industrial and commercial consumers and six hours in the night in the interest of students, media, and security personnel.
Accordingly, both the government and department were informed to take requisite initiatives without further delay.
As it is seen today, the effort has apparently been yielding a negative impact on the situation rather than improving it. Therefore it has become clear that the matter has not been taken very seriously by the Licensee.
Other agendas including Transmission system Improvement and Improvement of Commercial Efficiency were also discussed.