Staff Reporter

Shillong, May 2: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today termed the current power crisis as one of the most difficult times for the power sector in the state and assured that the government is working towards minimizing the discomfort faced by the citizens due to load shedding.

“We urge the citizens to bear with the different challenges that we are facing. It is a tough and challenging time for us. We are working towards minimizing the discomfort you are having by reducing the timing and having different load shedding for different areas based on the weather pattern,” Sangma told reporters.

“This may be one of the most difficult times for the power sector but as we move along we will see in the coming months and years the situation will not be as extreme as we are seeing this month and we will see a vast improvement as there is a lot of work that is happening behind the scenes and we will see the results of that in the coming days. So post this phase, we don’t expect such an extreme phase to come in the future,” he said.

The chief minister said that in the current situation, the only respite can be once there is good rainfall and once the state is able to purchase power at a slightly more reasonable rate.

According to him, the rates are very high (at present) because of the overall shortage in supply at the national level by different grids and different power producers.

“All these challenges are there and I hope that we will be able to move forward and be able to reduce things in the times to come as we see the monsoons are arriving. It will be the main solution for us for the time being,” Sangma said.

Further, the chief minister also said that Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) is facing huge financial concerns and hence needed the government’s support to a large extent.

“We are supporting (the MeECL) and that is the reason why we are able to maintain things to certain level but these challenges are huge and hence the aspects of reformation within the MeECL has also started and we will see that through this year many more reforms will take place,” he asserted.

Earlier while pointing out the reasons that led to the long hours of load shedding, Sangma said the state could not have the kind of scattered load shedding it normally has due the election held this year. Normally, the state has 2-3 hours load shedding from January to May.

“But this particular year, we could not do that and hence we are seeing the load of all the last three-four months from half of April and some part of May,” he added.