Meghalaya's Umiam Dam on the verge of shutting down, says CM Conrad Sangma

The State of Meghalaya is reeling under a power crisis for the past few weeks, and may have to suffer more in the coming days as the water level at Umiam dam used in producing hydel electricity is at its lowest and is almost at the point of shutting down, said Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma. 

“It (Umiam Dam) is almost at a point of shutting down as the state has not been receiving the required rainfall in the past few months, adding this has been one of the most difficult months in terms of rain for the state”, lamenting the Chief Minister. 

“We are doing our best to ensure that the load shedding doesn’t go beyond this…the government will have to spend an additional Rs 300 crore to buy power if the present situation continues in the next 100 days”, said Chief Minister Conrad as he explained the “difficult situation” faced by the state. 

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He explained that on average in the last two years, the state government is spending approximately Rs 600 crore of the state’s revenue to pay for different expenditures including the purchase of power from MeECL’s point of view to maintain the current power levels.

“We are purchasing close to Rs 3 crore of power every day even now considering the kind of scenario we are facing today. Hence, if the situation continues in the next 100 days, we will be spending an additional Rs 300 crore just to buy power, just to maintain this level of load load-shedding that we have,” he further explained.

The delayed monsoon has affected the power scenario in the state, however, he said the crisis will be restored only with the coming of rain. 

But, almost every state is facing a similar crisis which we are facing, said CM Conrad. “The rains are affecting everybody and the overall scenario is bad everywhere.”