The state of electricity in the state

Robert Moirangthem *

Power Plant at Leimakhong - 5th October, 2002

With a population of a little more than 27 lakhs, Manipur, the 'Jewel of India', is not as glittering nor shimmering due to the lack of electricity in the state. With due respect to the person who coined the terminology, what in fact it is today makes the term sound a complete misnomer.

In the year 2009, I did a summer project in NHPC Loktak, thanks to the Electrical Engineering degree which I was pursuing at that point of time. Only at that time I realised that the commissioned capacity of the project is 105 MW, and that is with the help of the three turbines installed, each generating 35 MW.

I also learnt that electricity is being exported to the neighbouring states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. At the time when the inhabitants of the state itself was not getting adequate supply and bearing the load shedding burden every alternate day, I asked why electricity is being exported. The answer to the query was that at least the other governments pay for it while our own people do not!

Coming to the present time, in my house, we recently bought an inverter, the total set-up including the battery costing around Rs 21,000/-. Earlier, we thought that this will provide the respite to the electricity woe, which later, proved otherwise. The reason being that the inverter is not even getting enough electricity supply to fully charge itself to be able to supply current entirely during 5 to 10 pm in an evening of load shedding.

Next, inspired by green technology, we went for some solar panels to get that extra bit of charge required to fulfil the requirements of the poor partially fed inverter. Well, unfortunately, we were proven wrong yet again as we realized that even this is not able to compensate the electricity requirement

Now, our third and last option was to get the generator running. Yes, this machine drinks petrol like a camel on a hot desert. Since there weren't any alternatives left for us to generate electricity, we went for it as well. Though the roaring of this machine may sound irritating to the neighbours, it provides the much needed relief from the darkness.

Coming to some interesting statistics, as per the website http://manipurpower.nic.in , I came to know that the number of consumers of electricity in Manipur rose from 1,50,938 in 1999-00 to 1,92,857 in December 2010, thereby, an increase of 41,919 consumers in a decade. In the same period, the Per Capita Consumption of Electricity in the State of Manipur was 145 kWh in 1999-00 against 148 kWh in 2009-10. This shows the level of consistency we have maintained over the decade towards an egalitarian society, and I mean this in a sarcastic way.

Today's world is already technology-based and most of the daily routine jobs cannot be done without electricity. At such a time, how can we think of further advancements in the state when our basic needs are not even met? How can Manipur become at par with the best states of India and elsewhere when we are struggling and fighting for petty basic needs and issues? When will we be able to let our huge volume of talented and potential Manipuris to stop worrying about these small issues and ask them to look beyond and compete with the best elsewhere?

To sum up, the condition in the state in terms of electricity is absolutely dismal and pathetic, leave aside the areas such as water supply and other issues. With the controversial Tipaimukh Dam, first commissioned in 1984 and having an installed capacity of 1500 MW, being further delayed due to environmental concerns, it is high time that policy makers come up with novice and innovative ways to fulfil the requirements. Though the system of prepaid electricity is being undertaken in a phased-wise manner, I also got to learnt that the voltage supply is not adequate to run the water pump or geyser. May be more needs to be done than we have already planned.