Shillong Nov 14: The North Eastern Council (NEC) jointly with the Research Center for East and North Eastern Regional Studies and Meghalaya government will organize seminar on “Power scenario in North East- Present situation and action plan for a better future” in Shillong on Saturday.

The objective of the seminar is to stimulate the public interest in geo politics, geo economics and geo strategy in the context of regional and South Asian security.

NEC secretary, Ram Muivah said that the NEC has taken up seven hydro/ thermal projects so far with a total installed capacity of 694.50 MW, about 30% of the current installed capacity in the region, adding that these projects have benefitted all the eight North Eastern states, industries and other major establishments in the region for their power requirement.

J.R. Mukherjee from the Research Center for East and North Eastern Regional Studies said that the North East has abundant mineral resources like coal, oil and gas for thermal power generation, but in spite of huge potential, the North Eastern Region ranks lowest in the country in terms of power generation and per capita energy consumption mainly due to lack of proper planning, inhospitable climatic conditions, remote location and inaccessibility.

States in the North East need to boost up power generation. They need some action plans so that they can harness the resources. Ecology and environment is of paramount importance for the North East. The seminar will give the forum for research, discussions, debate on current turbulence and threat.