Morung Express News
Dimapur | April 11
At a time when the entire state is reeling under acute shortage of power, there are transmission points in Dimapur from where power is supplied to settlements across the border in Karbi-Anglong, Assam. And the irony is that the government is getting nothing in revenue for the ‘good Samaritan gesture’ of the power department, if one is allowed to use the phrase in this context.
On the evening of April 8, the power transformer located at Lake View colony went off and broke down, bringing to a halt power supply to the colony for about three days. The reason for the break down was, in layman terms – ‘overload’. The defunct transformer was replaced by the department, with assistance from the colony’s council, in a record time of three days on Wednesday, April 11.
Meanwhile, peeved residents of the colony dismantled a power transmission point, which was used for siphoning off power to a settlement known as Dudu colony, which falls under Bokajan sub-division in Karbi-Anglong. The said transmission point, which fed power to about 500 families across the stream in Assam, was dismantled on Wednesday by residents led by Lake View Youth Organisation.
According to the residents of Lake View, power meant for the colony was drained from the transformer to Dudu colony via the ‘illegal’ transmission point, while genuine consumers of the colony were deprived of the actual quota of supply. It has been going on for quite some years now, resulting in frequent breakdown of the transformer set up in Lake View, the residents alleged.
Further, the unit of power consumed by the ‘consumers’ across the river were billed as falling under Lake View. The residents expressed doubts as to whether the revenue thus generated did actually reach the government. It is open secret however that the practice of draining power to settlements along the border in Assam is rampant. Other localities located along the stream, locally known as ‘Baloo noti or pagla noti’ are facing similar predicaments.
