Meghalaya: Congress MLA Ampareen slams Govt, calls 8-hour power cuts 'unimaginable'

Meghalaya, Feb 16: Congress MLA Ampareen has come down heavily on the state government for resorting to yet another load-shedding in Meghalaya unacceptable and unimaginable.

I cannot imagine that in a state where there are so many sources of power, we are in the 21st century, and we are living in this situation,” said Lyngdoh.

At the same time, the UDP, an ally of the MDA coalition, has urged the state government to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the state.

Lyngdoh also expressed concern over what would happen down the line if the situation continues for the next month. She claimed that the current load-shedding situation could bankrupt hospitals and small enterprises.

Making it clear that the state government has to answer for the power woes, Lyngdoh said she would take up the issue during the upcoming Budget session of the Assembly.

Condemning the timings of the power cuts, she said, “One cannot expect citizens to wake up in the morning and finish off all their tasks before 9 am just because the power cut occurs from 9 am to 12 noon. Then again when one returns home at the end of their day’s work you have another power cut from 7pm to 8pm. There is yet another outage from midnight till 3 am.”


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To a query that the state was once power surplus and was even distributing power to Tripura and neighboring Bangladesh, she said, “It’s a tough question to respond to but I only know one thing; once you’re in government you have to be responsible. When questions are asked you’re expected to reply and you just have to handle whatever situation comes your way”.

Meghalaya Congress MLA Ampareen also highlighted the issue of the sudden upsurge of power tariff. She said that everybody’s electricity bill has tripled or maybe four times the previous billing. Lyngdoh said that it is not a very positive situation to be in and that the government should take cognizance of this and immediately come up with a plan of action.