The road out of scarcity

As a power crisis grips the nation, a look at the long-suffering Northeast

Recently, there was a severe disruption of power supply to the Northeast, especially Assam. This was caused by the sudden collapse of one 400 kV tower in West Bengal supposed to transmit power to the north-eastern region, which was restored immediately. This incident indicates the fragile situation in Northeast India. Added to this, there has been an open admission by both state as well as the Central governments of the growth of Maoists in the Northeast, particularly in upper Assam. This news is important to the people of the region, particularly entrepreneurs and businessmen. However, I would not like to dwell upon this subject for now.

It was reportedly claimed that the agitation against the establishment of a 2,000 MW hydro power station in lower Subansiri along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border was infiltrated by extremists. This recurring issue needs to be immediately resolved so that the power-starved north-eastern states can benefit from this project.

One of the reasons for the poor economic and industrial development in north-eastern India is poor infrastructure and power. All these are severely power-deficit states. Barring Assam and Meghalaya, none can boast of generating significant power either through the hydro or the thermal sector. Even Assam, presently with an installed capacity of about 376 MW, is able to generate only 280 MW, while its demand is more than 1,200 MW. Most of these seven states have a severe power crisis during winter and summer. Therefore, the region's backwardness could be attributed directly to poor power supply and generation.

The tables indicate the status of all installed capacity (in MW) of power in the Northeast as on March 31, including allocated shares in joint and Central sector utilities.

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