Tuophema Village under Kohima district, which is also the native village of state chief minister Neiphiu Rio, is facing a total black-out due to non-payment of electric bills.
A power department official confirmed that the total black-out was due to the non-payment of electric bills amounting to nearly Rs. 4 lakhs.
“We have already disconnected the lines two weeks back” the officer informed. More than 500 households of the village including the Tuophema tourist infrastructure have been affected in the black-out.
He said that the power had served several notices to the Village Electricity Management Board (VEMB) prior to the disconnection of the lines, asking them to clear the bills, but failed to get any response from the VEMB till date.
Villagers maintained that the bills have been collected from several households which has not been apparently deposited with the department and complained of possible misappropriations.
Reliable sources within the village claimed that they have been regularly paying the electric bills to the VEMB working under Tuophema village council, which in turn was supposed to pay to the Power department.
The tourist village at the moment is surviving with a generator. “We have a generator but how long can we survive on a generator”, an official of the tourist facility commented and hoped that some action would be taken.
Meanwhile, it is interesting to note that SMSes are also being widely circulated stating that Touphema village has been blacked-out due to non-payment of electric bills.
Tuesday, February 17, 2026