Temjentula & Merenkumla
February 16
Dimapur: Determined to educate and sensitize the consumers on the awareness and utilities of electricity, the Department of Power, Nagaland for the very first time has launched a Revenue Mobilization & Consumer Week dating February 13 to 18 in the State.
The event is intended to bring to attention the facilities available in the department to citizens of Nagaland to promote judicious use of electricity and conservation of the same.
Besides sensitizing the consumers during the awareness week, service connections on demand are being offered to the public under an estimated power of 2 KW and also for spot settling of bill disputes.
In connection to the awareness week, Additional Chief Engineer, Power, T. Wapang along with an Executive Engineer toured different towns in almost all the districts of Nagaland and were on their to way to Kohima when The Morung Express caught up with them. While interacting, Wapang said that the programme was also to bring about awareness against electricity thefts like hooking, meter tampering, meter bypass, unauthorized extension, etc. Regarding the tour, he informed that the response from the public in other districts is also satisfactory. However, awareness rate is higher in Dimapur and Kohima compared to other sub-divisions in other districts, he said adding launching such awareness programmes would create more understanding and knowledge on conserving electricity. The Power Department is hoping to set up similar programmes as an annual event, he said. He urged on the need to conserve electricity and how as responsible citizens the public should contribute by taking simple measures.
It was also brought to light that during the first chapter of the ongoing awareness week, more than 70 cases of bill disputes have been settled and many are following suit. More than 100 applicants have availed the service connections offered in the sub-divisions of Dimapur.
SDO (Electrical) PWD Office, Dimapur informed that the public response so far is good. He emphasized that bill disputes like pending bills and other disputes are being rectified with different plans related to the nature of the dispute. Tenants complaining about pending bills by previous tenants are being resolved by sharing the cash or consolidate bills after evaluation of real consumption. If the bill amount is big, the consumers can avail the part payment, informed SDO Imsungkaba. Certain written amount is available which the consumers can avail for power service connections easily during the week.
Meanwhile, when asked about the irregular power supply in Nagaland during the past few weeks, the Addl. Chief Engineer told The Morung Express that due to dry water course during the pre-monsoon season, the main power grids that dispatch power for the entire Northeastern states is not able to provide the required power. Load shedding is regularly caused during this season.
Nagaland is getting around 35 MW of power and sometimes lesser against its daily requirements of 75 MW, he said.
Executive Engineer who was also present mused about the ongoing board examinations to shift to monsoon season when power hardly fails. He also added that, “electricity is a matter of demand and supply, more power saved is more power generated so to be able to conserve electricity we need the cooperation of the public in general”. He also said, “With the Football World Cup coming up in the month of June one would need to save electricity so that one can watch it in peace without any power cuts”.
