Yet another fire at the Nagarjan power sub-station in Dimapur resulting in blackout in the Dimapur district for nearly 17 hours. Power supply stations always carry the risk of short circuits resulting in fire but the frequency of the fire at the biggest sub-station in the state has become questionable. Not only Dimapur district but many neighbouring districts get their power supply through the Nagarjan sub-station. Earlier in November 2017 there was another fire at the same sub-station that damaged a transformer and rendered many parts of state without power supply for some days. It is a cliché that the power department does not receive enough fund for maintenance and there is acute shortage of manpower too. The much talked about Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (RAPDRP) is yet to show results in the state. The Aggregate Technical & Commercial(AT&C) losses in the state is still high. The department had earlier in 2017 stated that the state has around 2.6 lakh consumers with a daily demand of around 145 MW. The department has officially stated earlier that it could not even meet 120 MW of power. At present the demand would have reached around 155-160 MW. With a stringent funding pattern from the centre and a state where consumers fail to pay bills, the department was further pinched by the earlier state government’s grandiose so-called austerity measures. The power department received one of the lowest ratio of money compared to the required amount in the last few years. Only INR 7.11 Cr. was allocated in the last annual which was stated to be just 5% of the required amount. On the poor recovery of power bills the department made some startling disclosures last year. The list of unpaid electricity bills by public offices and government undertakings amounting to a tune of 9.55 crore was released by the department. In another instance the department disclosed that around INR 31.5 crore was outstanding from the Chumukedima area that has around 7000 consumers. It also released the list of those villages and urban areas that has single point metres with outstanding running into a few crore. It was in 2013 that the Anti-Power Theft Mobile Squad was launched in the state to curb power thefts and tampering with power networks. However the present scenario indicates that it is not power theft of the usual kind but blatant audacious non-payment of power bills, although it is also just another kind of theft. In his recent budget speech in the assembly, the Chief Minister had stated that the total loss of revenue on account of power during the 13th Finance Commission was INR 963.34 cr. and INR 1100 cr. during the 14th Finance Commission. During 2017-18 the loss of revenue in power was INR 309. 97 cr. and the projected loss during 2018-19 is INR 318 cr. Although the budget allocation for maintenance has been increased by more than 35% as compared to 2017-18, a complete overhaul of the department is in dire need. More stringent measures for the recovery of unpaid bills with proper enforcement has to be implemented. There is no dearth of any law related to power supply issues in the country, it is the implementation and enforcement where the agencies fail.
