Imlisanen Jamir
Time has come for the political leadership to find courage to demand that people pay for the power they consume, and stop pretending that financial engineering can fix the problem of ever-mounting losses in the State’s energy sector.
In the recently concluded Nagaland Legislative Assembly session, the Chief Minister informed that revenue collected by the Department of Power Nagaland (DoPN) has been less than 50 percent of the (energy) purchase cost since 2010-11. This is ridiculous and bodes a bleak future for any development path that Nagaland seeks to take.
At the root of the problem in the power sector is the apathetic attitude instilled among the consumers over years of mismanagement by the department concerned. There is now a huge swathe of consumers who refuse to acknowledge their duty to pay for what they consume.
Decades of faulty and inconsistent power meter readings accompanied by the enabling and normalization of tampered power meters across the State has led to this situation. Most households in the State would be surprised or horrified by what their actual energy usage charge amounts to these days.
The department has initiated some steps, in particular the pre-paid power metering system in some places of Dimapur and Kohima. This initiative has also met resistance in many quarters due to the aforesaid reasons. It will now be a test for the department as to whether it can implement the scheme in a way that it has substantial effects.
This is not to say that there aren’t any that pay their actual bills consistently. Many do. But when a large majority does not, and the department’s ability to properly function gets disturbed, the entire population suffers.
Combine this state of affairs with how dependent Nagaland is on imported electricity. 90% of Nagaland’s power consumption is imported from outside the state. This is despite Nagaland’s hydro electric potential to produce more that 200 MW of power, which is more than the State’s self sufficiency levels of 175 MW. According to the government, hydro projects are not being completed due to “land owner issues.”
Without an efficient, functional power sector, with goals to achieve sustainable self sufficiency, there is little hope for progress. The Chief Minister was right to term this situation “unacceptable.” It is now up to his government to take effective measures.
Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com
