Power crisis grips northeast India

AGARTALA - India’s northeast has been plagued by a power crisis for a month following a prolonged dry spell and falling water level in rivers and water reservoirs.

Soaring temperatures - on an average 35 degrees Celsius - have aggravated the living conditions in the mountainous region.

“The water shortage has reduced generation capacities of the six regional hydel power projects to 370 MW from 860 MW,” Tripura Power Corporation engineer Kumaresh Chakraborty, who supervises power distribution in the entire region, told media persons here.

The regional hydel power projects that supply power to the northeastern states are — Khandong (50 MW) and Kopili I and II power projects (225 MW) in Assam, Ranganadi hydro power project (405 MW) in Arunachal Pradesh, Doyang hydro power plant (75 MW) in Nagaland and Loktak hydro power project (105 MW) of Manipur.

Chakraborty said the Tripura government-run Dambur hydro power project (15 MW) had stopped production. The Meghalaya government’s 175-MW capacity Umiam hydel project generates on an average 50 to 60 percent of its actual capacity for the respective states.

“The rainfall was much less than normal in the last monsoon. That’s why the water level in the reservoirs of the power projects has significantly gone down, severely affecting their power generation capacity,” Tripura’s principal secretary (power) Sanjeev Ranjan said.

He warned that the situation might deteriorate further if rains do not occur within the next few days.

Tripura Power Minister Manik Dey said: “The demand and power supply gap ranges between 60-70 percent in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Sikkim.

“The electricity demand has risen by 25-30 percent due to the soaring temperatures coupled with high humidity,” he said.

Tripura has taken measures to deal with the situation.

“We are spending additional Rs.1 crore (Rs.10 million) every day to purchase extra power from the regional grid to cope with the situation,” Dey said.

He added that two gas-based thermal power projects with generation capacity 21 MW each would be commissioned in Tripura soon to meet the growing power demand.