Frequent power cuts force Amlarem residents into daily ‘candlelight dinners’: MLA

Shillong, Sept 10: UDP legislator from Amlarem Lahkmen Rymbui on Wednesday humorously remarked that while people in urban areas enjoy candlelight dinners, residents in his constituency are forced to have “candlelit dinners” everyday due to power outages.

Raising concern in the Assembly, Rymbui said that despite having two power projects, Lakroh and Leshka, the area still faces significant power shortages.

He urged the authorities to take measures to reduce power cuts and hoped that ongoing efforts would alleviate the power shortfall.

In his reply, Power Minister Abu Taher Mondal has assured that steps are being taken to reduce power cuts in the area.

On the reason for the frequent power cuts, he said majority of the area under Amlarem sub-division and Bakur-Dawki-Darrang areas experiences heavy rainfall, thunderstorm and strong winds leading to snapping of conductors and falling of trees on lines as most of the line passes through plantation areas like betel nuts, leavels, banana, bamboo etc

The minister also mentioned planned shutdowns to facilitate system improvement works under the RDSS and LR works.

The power minister informed that the department is working on upgrading infrastructure, including the Syndai sub-station, which will soon be sanctioned to address the power shortage.

He also assured that the problem faced by the Rajabala constituency will be resolved within the year and that he is working to operationalize the sub-station in the area.

The minister also informed that there are 16 linemen/Jugali in the Amlarem sub-division, and efforts are being made to rectify the issues and improve power supply in the area.