Erratic Power Cuts in Manipur Forces Aggrieved to Approach Court

By Brozendra Ningomba     

Imphal, Jan 21 : A Division Bench of Gauhati high court, Imphal Bench, comprising Justice BK Sharma and Justice Asok Potsangbam today issued notice of motion to the power department of Manipur and the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission for Manipur and Mizoram (JERC). The notice was issued in a writ petition filed by advocate Meihoubam Rakesh on behalf of three petitioners.

Submitting his arguments, Rakesh prayed the court to issue an order directing the respondents -- Commissioner/ Secretary, Government of Manipur, Chief Engineer, Electricity Department, Government of Manipur and Secretary, Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission for Manipur and Mizoram -- to provide uninterrupted power to consumers.

The petition seeks to make the respondents liable for providing reliable and safe electricity on demand for eight hours a day to all bona fide consumers of electric power in the state of Manipur.

Seeking a court direction for complying with the obligations laid by the JERC so as to provide reliable electricity, petitioners have sought a direction to ensure reliability of power supply, both in terms of quality as well as quantity to genuine consumers of Manipur.

The petition also sought a direction to be issued to the respondents to submit progress report for achieving the desired standard of performance periodically before the high court.

Rakesh contended that bonafide consumers of electric power get only about three hours of electricity in a day in Manipur while consumers in neighbouring states like Mizoram, Nagaland and Assam get 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply. Counsel said that considering the peak hour requirement of 170/180 MW, the state could only afford to purchase only about 90 MW from power companies like NEEPCO and NHPC. But out of this, about 80 percent of power is lost every month due to power theft and tripping.

The lawyer further pointed out that the electricity department of Manipur spends Rs 11.5 crore every month in purchasing power. However, the department manages to collect only Rs 1.5 crore from the consumers as a result of systemic failure and widespread corruption in the department.

Rakesh submitted that the new regulatory structure has been of no help and Manipur, probably, is now the only state which is doing with, at the most, not more than four hours of electricity a day, that too distributed in extremely irregular intervals, Rakesh asserted. Maintaining that it is not just about inconveniences caused to individuals, although it is enormous, advocate Rakesh stated that it is more about the death-knell this has sounded and continues to sound for hundreds and thousands of small and micro scale enterprises in Manipur that needs to be addressed

Although Manipur has hydro power potential of 2000 MW, at the moment the power sector of the state is by and large 'powerless' to meet even domestic requirement of around 1,74,127 consumers, he added.

After hearing the submission, Justice Asok Potsangbam remarked that even in Nagaland, which does not have its own power generation, electricity is available 24 hours. Justice BK Sharma also expressed displeasure at the prevailing situation of electricity in the state. The notice is returnable within four weeks.