Nongpoh, Sep 27: Despite being the district headquarter of Ri-Bhoi District, Nongpoh continues to suffer from erratic power supply.
Almost on a daily basis, residents of Nongpoh experience power cut. Shops, restaurants and business establishments are facing great hardship due to the unannounced load shedding.
Establishments that operate on electricity like fabrication units, photo copy shops and others have to stop works for hours due to power cut. The problem is also being felt by offices, schools and hospitals.
Not only Nongpoh. The complaints of power cut were also received in many areas of Ri-Bhoi District. There are villages that receive electricity for only few hours in a day in a district that has been tagged as an “Aspirational District”.
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What is surprising is that the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) is sending hefty electricity bills to consumers every month even though the service delivered by the power corporation is pathetic.
The issue of power cut has become the topic of discussion among people in Nongpoh and in all of Ri-Bhoi District. However, the problem remained unresolved.
The fact that MLAs of Ri-Bhoi were not bothered to take up the electricity issue with the State government is appaling. Neither the MLA of Nongpoh nor his counterparts from four other constituencies of the district have raised the issue seriously with the Power Department or the MeECL.
All the five MLAs of Ri-Bhoi District are part of the MDA Government. But their indifference towards the plight of the common man due to power cut has proved that they are more interested to stay in power instead of taking up issues of public interest.
It seems the time has come for people especially electricity consumers to wake up to these realities. If the MeECL has failed to provide smooth and uninterrupted power supply to the consumers, it has no moral right to serve its bills to them. Electricity is a basic amenity nowadays. If the people are deprived of this basic amenity, those in the government should hang their head in shame as they have failed to deliver.
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