Nagaland, Feb 4: Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has been appointed as chairman of the North East Regional Power Committee (NERPC).
Rio took over as chairman of NERPC from the former chairman, James Sangma, minister of power, Meghalaya.
“Have formally taken over charge as Chairman NE Regional Power Committee from former Chairman @JamesSangma1 Hon’ble Minister of Power, Meghalaya. NEPC is the highest forum that coordinates various issues relating to the power sector of NE, including generation & transmission utilities,” Rio said in a tweet.
On Thursday, Rio will address the ongoing 21st meeting of the Technical Coordination Sub-Committee (TCC) and NERPC in Kohima which is being attended by delegates from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, and officials from various central government undertakings.
Earlier in the day, chairman TCC and Nagaland power department’s engineer-in-chief Shikato Sema said the power sector in India has undergone significant progress since independence and has an installed capacity of 374 GW approximately as of December 2020, and the nation has the world’s largest synchronized national grid with 4,33,510 circuit KM of transmission lines at various voltage levels.
Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural session of the two-day meet in Kohima on Wednesday, Sema highlighted that as far as power demand was concerned, the demand met of NER grid has increased from around 1.5 GW in 2009-10 to approximately 3 GW in 2019-20 and 690 MU/month in 2009-10 to 1360 MU/month in 2019-20 which is about 100% growth in the last ten years.
Also Read: Tripura keen to continue supplying 160 MW electricity to Bangladesh
The official underscored concern on the alarming situation at the figures of outstanding dues to NEEPCO, OTPC, and NTPC, and urged the constituent members to take extraordinary measures to clear the dues as the financial health of generating companies is crucial to the sustainability of the region as a whole.
He also emphasized the need to take up with the central government, the Power System Development Fund (PSDF) funding pattern about ‘reliable communication’ project for 100% funding as a special case for the North East states.
