Pfutsero Town and its surrounding villages have been in darkness for 26 days. A few rich people are able to light their homes with small generators. However, poor people are living in a pathetic condition.
The break-down of Transformer and non-restoration is adversely affecting the life of people. Let us consider a few things.
1. Educational Institutions are badly affected. They cannot do many of the Office works. The officials documents cannot be printed. The colleges have to do correspondence with universities on online. Students’ registration cannot be done without power supply. Small generator does not give consistent power supply. It spoils electronic gadgets due to fluctuation of power supply. The teachers find difficult to prepare their lessons without electricity. The students cannot do home works/assignments. They cannot do paper presentation. The electrical power failure is adversely affecting the normal functioning of educational institutions in and around Pfutsero Town.
2. The Hospital is experiencing difficulty in storing Vaccine, doing various tests. Patients cannot be treated in darkness. Do power Department authorities have a concern for patients?
3. The non-restoration of electricity has affected business transaction, which are done through electronic media. The carpenters who work with electrical tools are now without works. It is also learnt that in Chizami Sub-Division, within eight months six transformers spoiled and took many days to replace them. Now, the electricity is restored, but the small scale industries like Saw Mills are not allowed to run for fear of spoiling the Transformer. Many people earn their daily bread and sponsor their children education with a meager wages earned from these small scale industries. The Power Department is now depriving them by not supplying power to these small scale and self-reliance industries. The workshops in Pfutsero Town are forced to close down for they cannot do wielding, do Tyre works and painting.
4. The authorities of the Power Department, the concern minister and public leaders should look into the need and welfare of the citizens. The bills that the citizens pay should be utilized to restore electricity. It is doubtful, whether the collected bills are faithfully deposited. If it is deposited then there should not be any shortage of money to purchase new Transformer. If the bills are not sufficient, the concern department should make consumers understand and enhance electric bill. Now, it is almost a month without electricity, will the Power Department collect electric bills from the consumers?
5. The consumers have right to demand good power supply. The authorities seem to be taking advantage of the silent consumers. Now it is time that public voice out their right. The supply of electricity is the responsibility of the State government. The collected bills should be sufficient to manage Power Department and supply sufficient power to the consumers.
We all know that Manipur Government has made Pre-Paid Electricity Bill. The citizens of Manipur State have sufficient and regular power supply. Is Nagaland Government capable to introduce Pre-Paid Bill system? This will help both the State Government and consumers. The consumers will also be very judicious in using electricity. Since the formation of the statehood, the citizens have not experienced regular power supply for 24 hours. There is always load shedding, power cut off for one-two hours or even whole day and night times. There is no prospect to improve the economy of people and progress unless there is regular power supply.
Yiepetso Wezah, Pfutsero Town
