Morung Express News
Kohima | February 4
Power Ministers from the North East today stressed on the need to achieve the objective of providing 24x7 power for all with quality and affordability for the people of the region.
They also highlighted the common challenges being faced by the region due to geographical isolation, and also setting up of transmission lines where each state has different local governance laws leading to the challenges of getting permissions from all stakeholders.
Speaking at the 21st North East Power Committee (NERPC) meeting in Kohima, Deputy Chief Minister, Tripura, Jishnu Dev Varma observed that the geographical isolation of the NE has resulted in many issues which are region specific in nature and the many challenges need to be dealt with together.
He maintained that the implementation of Government of India and World Bank funded North East Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) is one infrastructure development programme to create a robust power network in the North East states by strengthening and augmenting the Intra-State Transmission and Distribution System.
Minister for Power, Law, Forest & Environment, Taxation, Information & Public Relations, Meghalaya, James K Sangma viewed that this meeting should seek to address not just the challenges but also explore opportunities in the power sector in the entire North Eastern region.
He emphasised on the need for joint efforts towards providing power for all. He further highlighted the challenges being faced by the entire Northeast due to its geographical isolation which has hampered development.
However, he noted that the region is blessed with vast hydro potential, which needs to be fully tapped, not just to feed the economic growth but also contribute substantially to the growth of the nation.
The North East region, Sangma said has the potential of about 58,971 MW (almost 40% of the country’s total hydro potential with abundant resource of coal, oil and gas for thermal power generation).
Sangma urged the forum to explore new avenues for the evacuation of surplus power from North East to Bangladesh and also endorse the proposals for the interest of power sector with respect to transmission system capacity and reliability in the region.
Advisor (Power & Hydro) Arunachal Pradesh, Balo Raja in his address appealed the forum to persuade the Ministry of Power to change the funding pattern under the Power System Development Fund (PSDF) from 50:50 pattern to 100%.
He expressed confidence that the forum would take a pragmatic and futuristic policy approach to help each state of the region to achieve their goal and make the NE region capable of writing its own success stories.
