Is Meghalaya staring at a major power shortage?

Even as Meghalaya continues to reel under a severe power crisis with residents and businesses facing frequent power cuts, respite seems to be a far cry. Power minister AT Mondal who visited the Umiam dam on Tuesday said that the water level in the dam is at its lowest ever and a situation might arise when the power plant might have to be to shut down.

Taking stock of the situation, AT Mondal said, “Water level is at its lowest in the history of Umiam. We are now at 3,165 feet which is the lowest because all along it is 3,170 feet, so if the water level dips by another feet, we might have to shut down Umiam also. There is a permissible limit of the water level upto which we can run the unit. So if it goes below naturally we have to close down.”
The Meghalaya power minister said that things will normalize once rainfall occurs. “We need not think that the hours of power cut will be increased. We expect that in the meantime rains will come and the power situation will improve.”
When asked if there will be any further change in the duration of load shedding, AT Mondal said,”Status will be as it is as of now. Tura and Shillong it has been restricted to 8 hours, other areas are 10 hours.”
Worth mentioning, the MeECL Chairman had recently submitted before the Court that against a requirement of around 200 million units, Meghalaya has just about 88 million units of electricity. The Chairman attributed this shortfall to a closure of a power plant in Tripura due to technical reasons and informed that Meghalaya is yet to find an alternative source of power.
The court also said that the state should buy power from the open grid and enter into arrangements with power companies, several of whom operate in the Northeast, to ensure that adequate electricity is available to the residents.