Nagaland Chief Minister calls for comprehensive power policy

Nagaland Chief Minister T R Zeliang today said a comprehensive power policy was required to give direction for co-ordinated development of generation, transmission and distribution of power in the state.
Addressing a celebration at the NBCC convention hall here to mark 50 years of public service of the Nagaland Power Department, Zeliang said the per capita consumption in the state is only about 250 units which is amongst the lowest in the country.
He also said the state's own generation is negligible and the power requirement is met largely with import from outside. Improving the status of the power sector should be a challenge for all stakeholders, including policy makers, planners and technocrats.

Stating that a comprehensive power policy is required to give direction for co-ordination development of generation, transmission and distribution of power in the state, he called on the power department to initiate the process of framing a new state policy at the earliest.
Zeliang also said the mindset of people and the society towards public utilities should change. He added that tampering of meter boxes and power theft should be done away with as it widens the revenue gap between the cost of the power purchased and revenue accrual.
Minister for Power, C Kipili Sangtam said the state government is looking for fruition of the 180 MW Dikhu project on a public private partnership mode, for which negotiation on land acquisition is in progress with land owners.

Besides, detailed project report for Tizu and Zungki is under preparation and the department shall explore all possible funding option to develop these two potential hydro projects, he said.
He added that due to lack of adequate funding support, development of transmission and transformation capacity has been a bottleneck to increasing availability, restricting demand and growth.
However, the North Eastern Regional Power Grid System Improvement Projects (NERPSIP) funded by World Bank and GoI have been cleared by Ministry of Power and is due for implementation very soon. This will double the existing capacity of transmission and sub-transmission network of the state.