SME Times News Bureau | 12 May, 2012
As Assam
has been facing electricity outages of over 16 hours a day, Chief Minister
Tarun Gogoi Friday came to the rescue of the state power department that has
been drawing flak for erratic power supply across the state.
Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi and the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB)
have been drawing strong criticism due to frequent power outages in the state
for over a week. In certain parts of the state, power cuts have gone up to more
than 16 hours a day.
Addressing a press conference here, Gogoi said, "It is not due to the
negligence of the board that the state has been facing power shortage. The
disruption is due to collapse of power transmission towers near Jalpaiguri in
the Assam-West Bengal border area caused by inclement weather."
Gogoi also assured the people that the situation is likely to improve by
Saturday evening. "We were informed by the authorities in West Bengal that the towers have been repaired. So, we
hope the situation will improve by 50 percent by tomorrow evening," the
chief minister said.
"At present, we are facing shortage of 450 MW of power in peak hours and
about 260 MW during off peak hours. This has led to the existing situation. A
deficit in rainfall this year has also compounded the problem as the state's
own hydro power projects have failed to produce as per their capacities,"
he said.
Gogoi added the government has been trying to start thermal-based power
projects, which would help improve the state's power scenario.
"We hope the thermal power project at Bongaigaon will be operational by
December 2013. We will get 600 MW of additional power from the project. We are
also trying to get coal linkages for the thermal power plant at Margherita in
the upper Assam,
which will give us about 100 MW of power," he said.
The chief minister added that steps have been initiated to secure supply of gas
to the gas-based power project at Aamguri, which is likely to generate another
100 MW.
"We are likely to get 240 MW of power from the Palatana power project in
Tripura, which will be operational by July this year," Gogoi said.
