Pre-paid meter in all by Dec: CM
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 30 2022: Chief Minister N Biren Singh has stated that over 81 per cent of power consumers (households) in the State have access to prepaid electricity meter system while the remaining will get the facility by December 2022 .

The Chief Minister made the statement during the State level Bijli Mahotsav and Ujala Diwas celebrations organised by the Power Department at City Convention Centre, today.

Speaking as the chief guest, the Chief Minister stated that the State has altogether 5,10,000 power consumers of which 4,06,000 have access to prepaid electricity meters.

The celebration is being held throughout the country to highlight the achievement of the power sector in the last eight years and to carry forward the momentum.

Continuing that the State is procuring power at Rs 10 per unit from the power company and selling it to the consumers at Rs 5.50 to 6.50 per unit, N Biren stated that the Government incurs a loss of around Rs 3.50 to Rs 4 per unit of power which is equivalent to about Rs 300 crore to 350 crore every year to give electricity to the people.

The Chief Minister urged the people to use power judiciously.

The Chief Minister also urged the Power Department and Government employees to turn on street lamps only after 5 pm and reduce office's electricity usage by turning off the switches after office hours.

The State can reduce expenditure on purchasing power if the people use electricity wisely, N Biren added.

Stating that the Government is working day and night to develop the State but there is power outage occasionally due to natural calamities and other unforeseen events such as storm, N Biren maintained that the Government has also installed solar power at several health institutions at Churachandpur, Chandel and Tamenglong to ensure these institution get 24x7 power supply and effort is on to provide electricity to other far flung areas.

Delivering his presidential speech, Power Minister Thongam Biswajit Singh said that the grand finale of Bijli Mahotsav and Ujala Diwas were held in four locations viz Bishnupur, Thoubal, Churachandpur and City Convention Centre.

Expressing his disappointment over some people not considering generation of off-grid power as electricity, Biswajit said that the Government, nonetheless, is working to increase its gridline power connection coverage.

Exuding confidence that the Government will be able to provide better and more reliable power supply to the consumers under Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme by upgrading all systems, the Minister stated that the development of any State or country largely depends on power.

The Minister further stated that the power sector of Manipur has improved considerably as compared to the past.

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