Meghalaya: Power situation is comfortable, says MeECL Chairman

The MeECL CMD stated that rainfall is expected after the first week of June and that generation has been planned accordingly.

Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) CMD Sanjay Goyal today informed that the state has enough power to meet the demands for at least 5-6 weeks.

The MeECL Chairman’s statement assumes significance in view of water bodies in different parts of the state drying up owing to deficit rainfall, as the state primarily depends on hydroelectric power generation.

Goyal said that the state is now in a comfortable position ruling out any possibilities of load shedding.

In an exclusive conversation with Northeast Live, CMD Goyal said, “I will say the situation is quite comfortable for us. As you must be observing that the water level of Umiam which is normally the source of generation for us during this lean period, we have tried to maintain it at the optimum level right from the month of December onwards. So we have planned our generation keeping in mind that there is no load shedding.”

The MeECL CMD stated that rainfall is expected after the first week of June and that generation has been planned accordingly.

He said, “May be till the first week of June and going by the reports of the IMD, we are expecting rains after that and we have planned our generation accordingly. Additionally, we have taken 35 Megawatt of NTPC power, which we have for one year de-allocated it to Uttarakhand that power would also be available to us during this lean period.”

“So I think we should be comfortable as far as the power scenario is concerned for the next one – one and half month. Hopefully by that time we should have the monsoon season arriving and we will be comfortable even after that,” MeECL CMD Sanjay Goyal further stated.

Asked as to how the MeECL is coping up the situation since the water bodies are dying up, Sanjay Goyal said, “The only place which we account for our supply side management is only Umiam and that water level we have already factored in and accordingly we are going ahead with our generation. So in terms of other water sources the point becomes more relevant from the availability of drinking water kind of thing and not from the point of view of the generation of electricity. Power for 5-6 weeks is available with us.”

Read also: Shillong water crisis: Meghalaya CM treks for an hour to Um Jasai catchment area, takes stock of water situation

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