Nagaland: As mercury rises, Dimapur rekindles affair with power cuts

Eastern Mirror Desk

Dimapur, July 1: The sweltering heat of summer is reaching its peak in Dimapur town and there appears to be no reprieve from the Power department with constant power cuts disrupting daily activities.

The erratic power supply in many parts of Dimapur, especially colonies under the sub-urban power station at Metha Colony, was informed to be due to overload.

An engineer from the power station at Metha Colony told Eastern Mirror that the Dhobinullah feeder showed around 360 ampere which was above the limit with 4.8 MV. The normal megawatt was informed to be 3 MV.  The said feeder supplies power to colonies from Dhobinullah up to Naga Cemetery. The substation at Metha Colony feeds consumers in Signal Angami, Thahekhu, Sematila, PWD colony, Midland, Supply Colony, main town area, and Island Colony (Naga Cemetery).

“All feeders are overloaded and there is a problem with linking the power supply to different areas,” said the engineer adding that linking the Thahekhu feeder to the Dhobinullah one is a possibility since Thaheku’s feeder has not reached the limit of 3 MV.

The engineer also stated that since the power supply is not constant and continuous maintenance of different work is ongoing in the commercial hub, the main electricity supply is shut for a few hours from Nagarjan power station. “That is when consumers get irate,” he added.

Earlier this month, an official from the Power department assured that the company engineers would arrive from Guwahati to increase the maximum limit in the relay settings. “After that it will be somehow stable,” he added but not much seem to have changed.

The official further added that a 2.5 MVA compact substation would soon be installed at Metha Colony as an alternative measure and would most likely be commissioned this month. “This will carry the load of the colony which will result in less power cuts,” he had stated earlier.

Another substation at Forest Colony (Midland) for 10 MVA is in progress. He said that it would take the whole year for completion and added that the “department is working to constitute another 10 MVA power supply within that substation.”