Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad members rally against erratic power supply in Dhubri on Thursday

May 11: Frequent power cuts and loadshedding have left the business community of Dhubri district in the lurch.

Protesting against irregular power supply, nearly 1,000 members of the Dhubri district unit of the Akhil Bhara-tiya Vidyarthi Parishad came out in a procession in the town on Thursday. The activists carried banners with slogans against the Assam State Electricity Board’s errant ways.

The organisation submitted a memorandum to deputy commissioner Ganesh Chandra Kalita, asking him to take steps to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the district.

Binod Jotshi, president of the Dhubri unit of the ABVP, said the power shortage in the district had gone from bad to worse. What’s more, supply is not uniform either.

“People of the district are bearing the scorching heat of summer without regular supply of power. There is absolutely no fixed timing for loadshedding,” Jotshi alleged.

The disruptions in power supply have hit business the most. Anwar Hussain, proprietor of Dhubri X-ray and Scan, a diagnostic centre, said he had been incurring losses of Rs 16,000 every month because of irregular supply.

He has to pay the ASEB an average monthly bill of Rs 3,500 even if there is no supply of power for the whole month. On certain days, his diagnostic centre gets hardly three hours of power supply.

“I purchase diesel worth Rs 300 every day to run the generator in my laboratory, to keep the X-ray and other scan machines functioning. All pathological tests and scans are done in the daytime. If I depend on the ASEB power supply alone and do not keep alternative arrangements ready, I would have to wind up my business,” Hussain said.

Like Hussain, nearly 5,000 business establishments and around 2,400 small scale industries have been incurring losses due to the erratic power supply since the last month and there seems to be no solution to this power crisis in the immediate future.

Mahamedul Islam, Dhubri ASEB subdivisional officer, expressed his helplessness.

According to him, the power supply to the district is much less than the actual requirement and whatever is received is distributed equally through the three feeder lines.

“Dhubri district comprises five subdivisions — Dhubri, Gouripur, Bilasipara, Golokganj and Agomoni. It requires 16 to 17 MW of power during the peak hours and 12 MW at other times. However, Dhubri is supplied an average of 6 MW only,” Islam said.

A proposal to connect the Gouripur power distribution sub-centre directly with Dhaligoan (Bongaigaon) is pending approval. If this is done, the frequency of power faults in the Dhaligaon-Gossaigaon-Gouripur line will be reduced.

For now, the ASEB is banking on heavy rain in Upper and Central Assam to help hydel power projects maintain the minimum output of power.

Dhubri needs between 10 to 12 mw of additional power to tide over the crisis. “It all depends on the rain gods and the policy makers. Distribution of power is controlled at the Kahalipara power distribution centre,” Islam said.