Tripura, Meghalaya get relief from major power cut

Tripura and Meghalaya on Monday heaved a sigh of relief as the Northeast Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) agreed to continue to supply power from its plants, thereby saving the two states from a major power outage from Tuesday.

NEEPCO, which is under the union power ministry, had earlier served notice to both Tripura and Meghalaya to clear their dues, saying it would otherwise cut supply from its power projects to the two states from April 5.

Tripura and Meghalaya owe Rs.550 crore as outstanding dues to NEEPCO.

"Both the Tripura and Meghalaya governments have assured us to repay their outstanding money at the earliest and after getting the written assurances, we have withdrawn our power suspension order for the time being," a NEEPCO official told IANS over phone from its headquarters in Shillong.

"Other northeastern states, including Assam, also have dues to NEEPCO. These states, except Tripura and Meghalaya, taking into account a waiver scheme, liquidated their dues against power supply," said the official requesting anonymity.

When contacted by IANS, Tripura State Electrical Corporation Limited chairman-cum-managing director Shyamal Kumar Roy said he was unaware about the dues to NEEPCO and it was being looked into by senior officials of the state government.

NEEPCO, which contributes around 38 percent of the total installed capacities of various state and central government run power projects in the northeastern region, currently has its combined installed capacity of 1,287 MW from seven power plants in Assam, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.