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Power crisis to be over soon, says Nitish

Nitish Kumar

Patna: The power situation in Bihar is likely to look up in the new year with two closed thermal energy units almost ready to generate electricity and a number of small projects lined up for execution, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said.

“Renovation work at the closed Barauni and Kanti thermal power plants is nearing completion and it is expected that both the units will soon start generating about 400 MW of electricity daily,” Mr. Kumar said.

He said several small hydel projects are also being executed for creating additional energy.

The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited and the State Government had already signed an agreement for setting up a 1,980-MW electricity generating plant at Nabi Nagar in Aurangabad and work on it would start next fiscal, Mr. Kumar added.

“Besides, a private company opting for setting up a power generating unit in the State, we have also signed pacts with Power Grid Corporation for strengthening the transmission system,” he said.

“At this stage I cannot say what will be the outcome of our efforts but the people of Bihar should be assured that steps taken by us will be fruitful and we will be able to meet our energy demands,” he claimed.

Mr. Kumar said Bihar had only 584 MW of installed capacity, of which 540 MW is thermal and the rest is hydel.

“But there is hardly any generation from the thermal stations. Muzaffarpur is down and Barauni produces only 30 MW at peak hours as its generation cost is very high,” he said.

Mr. Kumar accused both the Centre and the erstwhile RJD government for the power scarcity in the State.

“The acute shortage of electricity Bihar is facing is because of the Centre’s failure to cater to our requirements. Against the daily requirement of 1,150 MW electricity, the Centre was able to supply only about 700-750 MW”, he said.

At present, Bihar is purchasing power from Central sectors, including 959 MW from NTPC.

The per capita consumption of electricity in the State is just 60 kwh/yr as compared to the national average of 354.75 kwh/yr.

“We have made significant achievements in generation of revenue and checking pilferage that was so rampant during the RJD days”, he said.

According to sources, the Bihar State Electricity Board is in a dire financial crunch. The board purchases power worth Rs. 118 crore every month, but collects only Rs 75 crore monthly as revenue.

It has substantial establishment costs of Rs 51.71 crore per month and there is a monthly deficit of Rs 107 crore, the sources said. -- PTI

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Power crisis to be over soon, says Nitish

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