Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 26
While the government on one hand gets the brickbat for the erratic power supply, the public as in the consumers are also not far behind. Consumers under Dimapur and Chumukedima Electrical Divisions combined owe the Department of Power, Nagaland (DoPN) over Rs. 250cr in pending electricity dues.
Dimapur Division with over 70,000 registered consumers, as per the department, has the largest number of defaulting consumers with a cumulative pending bill amounting to Rs. 226cr as of July 2017. Chumukedima Division with around 7000 registered consumers has Rs. 31.5cr in arrears.
Disclosing this on the sideline of the new office building inauguration programme of Chumukedima Electrical Division, a DoPN official said that unrealised bills and power theft alongwith other factors is hampering the growth of the power sector in Nagaland. While stating that there is a wide gap between revenue collection and power consumption, the official said that Dimapur Division makes up 30 percent of the total 2.6 lakh registered consumers in Nagaland, which accounts for 45 percent of the total power consumption in the state. Asked on the introduction of online bill payments, the official said that consumers in Kohima have responded well to the initiative while it is still picking up in Dimapur.
As for Chumukedima, only 136 consumers have used the online payment mode in the 9 months since it was introduced. Power Minister, C. Kipili Sangtam who inaugurated the new building located at Ward 5, Chumukedima called for the community taking ownership of the power department and its assets. “Consider the department as a community asset,” said Sangtam, while he called for judicious use of electricity.
Commissioner & Secretary, Power, KD Vizo said that the DoPN despite being a major revenue department of the state government is among the most neglected in terms of budgetary allocation. Stating Nagaland has the highest Aggregate Technical & Commercial loss in the country, he said that electricity theft has greatly impacted the department’s performance over the years.
