POWER PACKED MIZORAM: 2016 ( A day dream)

By- K. GUITE
Superintending Engineer
Project Circle-II

(I composed the following write-up during my early days in the Department. Even though it was supposed to be a daydream, I might confess now that I actually believed in my heart of heart then that my generation will leave ‘Power Packed Mizoram’ to the Gen-X. 2016 AD is approaching; I can’t help a few introspections).

I know it will happen one day. And it happens today. The world fossil fuel deposit is almost depleted. Half the cities of New York, London and Tokyo are pitch black due to load shedding like Lunglei and Aizawl in 1980s which my generation still dimly remembered.

Today, Power flows from Mizoram-no, not from the barrel of the gun but from the giant Hydro Power houses of Tlawng and Tuirial from the North; Tuivai from the North- East and Kolodyne from the Southern side.And there is light.

All high voltage transmission lines lead to Mizoram. The Power Ministers of Ram, Rahim and Maung Maung of the world are salivating for a share in a piece of the Power Packed.

Whenever Load dispatches Center in Mizoram sneezes - Ganges, Irrawady and Brahmaputra Valleys collapse with a stroke. Share prices crashed like A-320 Airbus. Thousands of Computers were gone blank and Robots were standing dead like Lot’s wife in the sprawling workshops.

Today, I have at last completed my Pension papers. With a lot of time in my hand for the first time, I was drifting to the Power Control Center. A security staff smartly opens the door with a familiar glance. I feel sad to think that I will see him no more from tomorrow. Wide-eyed with wonder and bewilderment, trainees from different parts of the globe wander aimlessly in the corridors of the center.

The walls of the Power Control Center are full of switches, visual displays, dials, diagrams of transmission line circuits and important Sub-stations of Eastern India and neighboring countries with consoles of Computers feeding the mass of information on the present status of loads at various load centers and real time reports of Hydro Power Stations in different parts of Mizoram.

My mind races back to a not so long ago when Mizoram was fed-no, not well-fed of course, by toy like Projects (in today’s standard) like Khawiva, Tuisumpui and Tuirivang Projects. I am proud that my contemporaries dared to dream the shape of things to come. People of that time and age thought that we were a bunch of Don Quixotes tilting to Hydro Power.

Today, cheap and abundant Power facilitates conveniences and comforts believed to be unattainable in Mizoram a few decades back. Magnetic Levitation Super Train services smoothly and noiselessly between Vairengte in the North and Parva in the South. You can manufacture Tuibur if you have the inclination to push the button and juggle your choice of strength, alkalinity and concentration by adjusting the dial (remote control optional). Swimming Pool with control temperature is as popular as VCR some decades back.

We came this far and handed over the torch – I mean the Electrical Torch to the next generation for generation of a lot more units of electrical energy.