SHILLONG, Aug 10 � A two-day North East Power Ministers� meeting would be held here from Wednesday to find ways to overcome the huge power deficit in the region.
During the first day of the meeting officers from Power departments of the region would hold discussion on technical matters. The following day Power Ministers from the region would hold their meeting.
The agenda of the meeting is to find ways to overcome the power shortage through better transmission lines and development of new power projects.
The North East has the potential of producing 70,000 MW of power, enough to light up half of India, experts say. Arunachal Pradesh alone has the potential to produce 50,000 MW of power.
But the region is reeling under power shortage due to slow development of new power projects due to many obstacles. Due to the bottlenecks the region is producing power just two to three per cent of its actual potential.
Once power surplus, Meghalaya now has the highest power deficit in India with 32 per cent as the State has not been able to optimally harness its vast potential both hydel and thermal. Some of the projects here are way behind their scheduled commission.
�There are various agendas, but the focus would be to develop transmission lines and new power projects. How that can be done would be discussed by members of the technical committee tomorrow,� Meghalaya Power Minister Abu Taher Mondal said about the two-day meet.
He said the North East must use its immense power potential in a collective manner to remove hurdles in power generation. �We need to work together to get better results,� Mondal stated.
It is expected Power Ministers of all the Northeastern States would attend the two-day meeting.
