Mokokchung Town Lanur Telongjem (MTLT) said it was constrained to ask the Department of Power (DoP) Nagaland about the reason for five days of continued power outage in Mokokchung town due to damage to the 5000MVA transformer at Mokokchung power station.
MTLT media cell, disclosed that colonies in Mokokchung town were receiving power only for four hours during the past five days that too on rotation basis. It said this had caused hardship on citizens, with the most affected being the business community who rely on power to run their businesses. MTLT said the power outage was severely affecting the economy and causing losses to the tune of lakhs of rupees.
MTLT said Mokokchung division was not only the best performing power division but also the highest revenue generating division in Nagaland. It said under such a circumstance, the DoP should explain as to why citizens of Mokokchung were made to suffer despite regularly paying power bills on time to the Urban Electricity Management Boards(UEMBs) every month and also keeping check against power thefts in colonies? MTLT also expressed bafflement that the power department has no standby transformer for use in an emergency.
MTLT said while the cost of a 5000 MVA transformer was a little more than Rs.60 lakh, Mokokchung contributed around Rs.600,00,000 annually as revenue. MTLT therefore, urged upon the DoP to look into the plight of the citizens of Mokokchung and immediately restore power supply and also to keep at least one or two transformers on standby in case of emergency.