AGARTALA, September 12 (TIWN) :Monarchak power plant will remain shut down for seven months, till March 2016. Speaking about the shut down NEEPCO, general manager and project director of Monarchak said the decision of shut down was taken due to non – availability of gas from ONGC.From September 8 morning supply gas to the plant was stopped by ONGC, gas supply will be resumed after March 2016, Biswas said. “Having no other alternative, we have to go for shutdown” he added. With shutdown of Monarchak power generation have stopped, eventhough it was on trial run around 20 – 25 MW power was to be generated. The generated power was by TSECL. Due to long shutdown, there is change of power scarcity during Durga Puja in the state.If one unit of Palatana fails than TSECL will be in great trouble to cope the situation. Power minister Manik Dey announced power consumption during puja will around 300 mega watt. The shut down of Monarchak is a matter of concern for TSECL.At present both units of Palatana are generating power. The second unit is generating power four days back. It was under repair for some mechanical fault. The two unit never generated power for a long time together. TSECL cannot rely fully on Palatana, they should seriously think about alternate arrangement for Durga Puja .The commissioning of 101 MW gas-based thermal project at Monarchak in Sipahijala district has become uncertain due to non availability of gas by ONGC. The Monarchak project is incurring a loss of Rs 3.5 crore per month.