Posers raised to the Electricity Dept, Manipur via the SPIO

K Seityajit *

1. How and when was the Loktak Project transferred to the NHPC Limited according to your official records? Was there any agreement/contract signed between the Government of Manipur and the NHPC Limited at the time of transferring of Loktak Project. If yes, please provide an authenticated copy of the agreement/contract signed between the Government of Manipur and the NHPC Limited.

Ans: No official records are available in this office about the transfer of the project to NHPC and agreement/contract thereof. All formalities might have done before the establishment of Electricity Department, Government of Manipur in the year 1971.

2. Please provide an authenticated copy of the detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Loktak Project, which was commissioned in the year 1983.

Ans: DPR of the project is also not available in this office. The same may be available with NHPC Ltd.

3. Was there any programme or scheme for rehabilitating the individuals who have been affected by the Loktak Project at the time of preparing the DPR? If yes, please provide the details thereof.

Ans: Cannot say as the DPR is not available.

4. What is the total unit of power received from the Loktak Project by the State of Manipur at present? What is the actual unit of power required during peak hour for the State of Manipur according to your official records?

Ans: Total units of power received from NHPC at present is enclosed as Annexure - A and the power requirements of the State during winter and summer are respectively about 180 MW and 110 MW at peak hours.

5. Is there any scheme for rehabilitation of the Loktak Project affected individuals? If I yes, please provide details thereof.

Ans: Cannot say as the project is owned by NHPC Ltd. under Central Sector.

6. Please provide the detailed particulars of electric consumers, who are getting uninterrupted electric power supply (also known as VIP line) in the State of Manipur according to your official records. What are the criteria for availing such an uninterrupted electric power supply by a consumer according to your official records?

Ans: There is no provision of uninterrupted power supply or VIP line in existing system. Hence this question is not applicable.

7. Is there any technical audit in your Department? What is the reason recorded in your official records for compelling consumers of a particular village to contribute money for repairing of electric transformer as and when the transformer starts malfunctioning.

Ans: No

8. Is there any branch office of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission for Manipur and Mizoram at Imphal? If so, please provide details thereof such as office address, contact persons, telephone numbers, working days etc.

Ans: No

That the details of the false and misleading information furnished by the Respondent are as follows:-

(i) In respect of question No 1 and 2 of the Appellant’s RTI application, the Respondent has furnished false and misleading information by saying that no official records are available in his office about the transfer of the project to NHPC and agreement/contract thereof. The NHPC Limited was formed in the year 1975 much later than that of Electricity Department, Government of Manipur, which was established/separated from the Public Works Department, Government of Manipur in the year 1971. Under such circumstances how could it be possible for NHPC Limited to execute the Loktak Hydro Electric Project without any agreement with the State of Manipur?

It is also known that the Loktak Hydro Electric Project’s DPR was prepared in the year 1965 when the Electricity Department was in association with the Public Works Department, Manipur and many copies of such DPR are available in different Courts for adjudication of various disputes in the State of Manipur.

So, it would be bounden duty or responsibility of the Electricity Department, Government of Manipur to keep such copy of DPR from the parent State PWD for future record and reference as well as for future generation of the State and integrity of the State.

(ii) That in respect of response furnished to question No 3 of the RTI application, the Appellant would like to submit that the Electricity Department is enjoying fruit of the project by getting energy/power generated from the Loktak Hydro Electric Project without knowing the details of the DPR of the project. And as a result of it the public are suffering due to absence of any rehabilitation programme, which is highly objectionable and doubtful behaviour of the Electricity Department.

(iii) That in respect of response furnished to query No 4 of the RTI application, the Appellant would like to submit that the Respondent has shown the power requirement of the State during winter and summer as respectively about 180 MW and 110 MW at peak hours. But the data available on 19th June 2011 has shown as demand met as 58 MW at 0800 hours and the total requirement was also shown to be as 65 MW as requested by the Electricity Department to the Power System Operation Corporation Limited, Shillong. And power supply position at 2000 hours demand met is shown as 49 MW against 90 MW. Thus, the actual official figure available is quite contradictory as that of the Respondent’s figure 110 MW at peak hours during summer.

In terms of State wise power supply position in MU (Million Unit) the requirement of Manipur is shown 1.330 MU against the consumption of 1.096 MU which is quite low as compared to that of Meghalaya State consumption of 4.153

MU against their requirement of 5.626 MU which is having similar size and population as the State of Manipur.

(iv) That in respect of response furnished to question No 5 of the RTI application, the Appellant would like to submit that the Electricity Department, Government of Manipur is one of the Respondents in various Writ Petitions filed before the Hon’ble Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench by certain individuals/Joint Action Committee of the affected area for seeking appropriate rehabilitation and reparation.

(v) That in respect of response furnished to question No 6 of the RTI application, the Appellant would like to submit that the Respondent has furnished false and misleading information in as much as the Electricity Department has been providing/supplying uninterrupted power supply to certain brick fields in the valley areas as well as certain top contractors, sub-contractors, highly influential individuals, bureaucrats etc. The Appellant is willing to furnish sufficient evidence to prove his assertion at any point of time.

(vi) That in respect of response furnished to question No 7 of the RTI application, the Appellant would like to submit that absence of such technical audit creates disturbance to the public as the Department is not maintaining daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly maintenance of plant and equipments and proper checking of the conditions of the equipments resulting unwanted accident/disturbance to the equipments as the Appellant has noticed that Loktak - Jiribam 132 KV feeder of Government of Manipur was out of service between 28th October 2002 to 23rd January 2011 (i.e. for the last 8 years)

(vii) That in respect of response furnished to question No 8 of the RTI application, the Appellant would like to submit that as the Electricity Department has a bounden duty to open such a branch office of the Regulatory Commission at Imphal in consultation with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) or Appellate Tribunal for Electricity for the benefit of the public grievances of the State of Manipur.

That the Appellant would like to place the above stated submission and assertions before the First Appellant Authority in order to issue an effective direction to the Respondent for furnishing correct information to the Appellant in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Further it is also submitted that in case the information sought for is held by other public authority, please transfer the application to that other public authority and inform me immediately about such transfer as per provisions of Section 6(3) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

It is, therefore, prayed that the Hon’ble First Appellate Authority be pleased to consider the above stated facts and submissions at the time of considering the present appeal and to pass an appropriate order so as to enable the Appellant to access the information requested by him for the ends of justice.

These questions follow the answers provided by the Dept to the 8 questions raised earlier by the same applicant

1. Please provide details of district-wise actual revenue received and corresponding amount of electrical energy in terms of MU consumed by the consumers of such districts during the financial year 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 by the Electricity Department, Government of Manipur. Please do also provide details of revenue received out of selling our State quota of electrical energy under unscheduled interchange (UI) during the financial year 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 by the Electricity Department, Government of Manipur. I have learnt from newspaper some time ago that there were instances of providing electric connection to some houses of neighbouring country Myanmar. In this regard I would like to know the reason for providing such illegal connection according to your official records.

2. Please provide the modalities of district-wise allocation of electric power among the 9 districts of Mani-pur. Which district of valley areas of Manipur has got maximum electrical power during the financial year 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012? Most of the district hea-dquarters of hill districts of Manipur used to get electric power for maximum duration of time in comparison with valley districts. In this regard, I would like to know the reason for such disparity among the hill and valley districts of Manipur according to your official records.

3. I have found that certain consumers of Thoubal District used to pay Rs 195/- as monthly tax for use of electric power at flat rate and whereas consumers of Imphal East and Imphal West used to pay Rs 410 as monthly tax at flat rate. In this regard I would like to know the formula adopted by the Electricity Department for calculation of monthly bill without meter readings for arriving at the monthly bill at Rs 195/- and Rs 410/-.

4. How many years Loktak-Jiribam 132 KV feeder of Government of Manipur was out of order according to your official records? What is the reason for such failure of the said transmission line according to your official records? What is the reason recorded in the official records for taking several years while repairing the said transmission line?

5. There was an incident of gutting of official documents at Khuman Lampak Sub-Station earlier. What are the documents which were destroyed in the said fire according to your official records? Whether the Dept has lodged an FIR with the concerned police stati-on about the incident? Who are responsible for safe custody of the said documents? Is there any arrest of res-ponsible staff by the police as a part of its investigation?

6. What is the rationale behind setting up of Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission for Manipur and Mizoram instead of setting up our own regulatory commission as done by other States of the Country?

7. When there was outage of electric current for 4/5 days in a particular area, there was no rebate in the monthly electric bill as we used to get monthly bill of Rs 410/- without taking into consideration about the unscheduled power failure during the particular month. It shows that the Electricity Department is taking advantage at the expenses of the Consumers. Is there any system in your department for adjustment of electric bill corresponding to the duration of power failure?

8. How the Electricity Department did utilise 36 MW generated from the Leimakhong Heavy Fuel Generating Station and what is the price of Heavy Fuel per Kiloliter at present? Where are energy meters affixed at each and every 11 KV and 33KV feeders in Manipur? Is there any energy audit in the Electricity Department? If so, please provide the details thereof.

9. There are instances of diverting load shedding programme to provide electric power to a particular area, where house of high ranking official of Electricity Department situated and organised a family function therein. Is there any rules pertaining to diversion of scheduled load shedding programme to fulfill the requirement of the high-ranking officials. If so, please provide a copy of the said rules.

10. I have been told that there would be pre paid system of electric power consumption charges in Imphal city areas. In this regard, I would like to know details of such pre paid meter system. In which State such system is introduced satisfactorily according to your official records? Please provide the name of the distribution company/utility who had introduced such pre paid meter system in India.

11. I have found laying of underground power cables in and around Imphal City. In this regard, I would like to know the quality, specification of power cable such as voltage, ampere, ISO and ISI no., manufacturing company name, test certificate of such power cable. Who is the implementing agency of the laying of underground cable in and around Imphal City? Please also provide an authenticated copy of DPR of laying of underground power cable and its connected activities.

12. According to the Annual Administrative Report, 2009-2010 of the Electricity Department, Government of Manipur, the revenue collection from State of Manipur is Rs 80.163 crore and the revenue collected from unscheduled interchange is shown as Rs 2.5.397 crore. In this regard, I would like to know the names of the other States/Agencies of the country, who had enjoyed electric power, which had actually been scheduled for the consumers of Manipur, under unscheduled interchange and added to the revenue of Manipur to the tune of Rs 25.397 crore.

13. According to Daily Power Supply Report of Power System Operation Corporation Ltd., Shillong, the State of Meghalaya, which is very much similar with Manipur in terms of area and population, has been meeting its requirement by demanding above 100 MW every day during summer whereas, the State of Manipur has been demanding much below 100 MW per day and shown meeting of its requirement very much below the actual requirement. Is it correct to say that your department has been selling electric power outside the State under unscheduled interchange by showing surplus of electric power by putting frequent load shedding programme in the State? What is the reason according to your official records for demanding much below 100 MW, which is not enough for meeting the actual requirement of the consumers of Manipur, to the Power System Operation Corporation Ltd., Shillong?

14. What is the reason recorded in your official records for compelling consumers of various locality to contribute money for repairing of damaged transformers? Whether such repairing of damaged transformer through contribution of money by the consumers is executed with the knowledge of the concerned Assistant Engineer and staff or not? What is the reason recorded in your official records pertaining to inability to provide new transformer in place of damaged transformer in time?

15. Please provide the actual circumstances and reason, which compelled the Yurembam Sub-Station to disturb distribution of power to other Sub-Stations for 2/3 hours most of the time on the pretext that North East Region Load Dispatch Centre, Shillong supply less amount of power. When and how did your department use to submit proposal of power requirement to the North East Region Load Dispatch Centre in advance. What is the average demand of power in terms of MW submitted to the North East Region Load Dispatch Centre during summer and winter?

16. Please do provide all existing categories/types of Electric Consumers according to your official records indicating its system of supply, consumption range, energy charges, fixed charges and applicability in Manipur. What type of consumers are entitled to get VIP line, uninterrupted power supply line, dedicated power supply line, ordinary power supply line etc. Please let me know the name and type of consumers who have been getting 24 hours power supply with minor disruption in Manipur. What is the name of such uninterrupted power supply line, which are usually connected from the output source of the transformer and not from the overhead power line, according to your official records?

17. The Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has been claiming that due to shortage of power supply at the water treatment plant, they are not able to provide adequate drinking water to the general public from time to time through print and electronic media. Is there any programme or initiative taken up by the Electricity Department to provide adequate power supply to the water treatment plants of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED)? If so, please provide details thereof.

18. Since one-fourth of total population of Manipur are educated unemployed youth, the only viable solution for problems of unemployment is setting up of home based industry, small scale industry, micro based industry etc. However, such initiative of setting up of small scale industry could not survive for long time due to erratic power supply. Do you have records of such vanishing small scale industries? If so, please provide details thereof.

19. When someone insisted to have a dedicated/uninterrupted power supply line, the Department of Electricity used to demand Rs 20,000/- to 40,000/- for such power supply line and sometime the intended consumers are compelled to purchase a new electric transformer. Is it an example of corruption in the functioning of the Electricity Department, Government of Manipur?

20. What is the total staff of the Electricity Department, Government of Manipur at present for smooth collection of revenue? Further, please do provide the total number of district-wise staff deployed for billing.

21. At present almost all Hydro Electric Power Stations of North Eastern Region have reached its full reservoir level due to incessant raining for the last many weeks. So I would like to know our State’s block-wise (every 15 minutes) allocation of power including the reports of block-wise consumption of power.

22. Please do provide the existing daily load shedding schedule/programme of Electricity Department indicating the specific name of areas/villages, which were scheduled to be provided with electric power as well as load shedding timing and duration. —concluded