Minister Th Biswajit sees state power self-sufficient in two years
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, February 28 2023:
Looking at the pace in which the state is developing in the power sector, Manipur will become a self-sufficient in power generation in two years' time, said power minster Th Biswajit.
Responding to a query raised by opposition MLA K Meghachandra on behalf of MLA K Ranjit in the state assembly on Tuesday, minister Biswajit said that the state requires around 250 MW of electricity during the peak hours.
The pre-construction work of Loktak downstream project costing around Rs 63.5389 crore has been completed though the overall project is yet to be executed.
He also informed that the process of constructing a mini hydroelec tric project which could generate 300 megawatt of power is almost complete.
Taken up with 90 per cent funding from the central government in addition to assistance from the World Bank, the project, once implemented, will definitely make Manipur a self-sufficient state in power generation.
Stating that there would be no load-shedding as the construction of ring road grid line in Imphal city has been completed, the power minister informed that in addition to procuring power from the eastern grid, the ring road grid line will enable procure electricity to the tune of 400kv, 132kv and 33 kv from any states of the country.
Mentioning about the situation of power supply in the hill districts, he said that new pre-paid meters have been installed in 2.20 lakh houses in the hill districts.
Of the total 5.20 lakh consumers in the hill districts; 4.64 lakh have now become pre paid consumers.
He also stated that earlier the state used to face issues in procuring electricity from other states at the rate of Rs 10 to Rs 13 for 1 unit of electric as the state could only produce 100 megawatts of power during rainy season per day and 70/80 megawatts during lean season.
"However, as the revenue collection has increased considerably over the years, the debt amount of Rs 130/140 crore which the state faced earlier has been reduced to only Rs 65 crore now.
As soon as the government clears all the debts, the problems, faced by the state will be reduced significantly," he maintained.
To the query by opposition MLA Surajkumar Okram in connection with drought relief assistance, Relief and Disaster Management minister Awangbow Newmai said that the government declared drought in the state on August 31, 2019 and requested a relief amount of Rs 151.04 crore from the centre after conducting a survey by the district administration and district agriculture officers.
However, the ministry sanctioned only Rs 26.53 crore, which the government of Manipur received only in August 2020.While clarifying that the government could not distribute the relief funds to the affected people due to outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, Awangbow disclosed that the finance department is planning to release the funds at the earliest along with provision of ex-gratia to the farmers.