By IANS
Ranchi : Erratic power supply and frequent outages in Jharkhand have made life difficult for people. Even the state capital routinely suffers 10 hours of power cuts a day.
For students, burning the midnight oil is mandatory, given the long hours of power cuts.
“The second term examinations will start in a week. It is tough for children to study in candlelight,” said S. Suman, a mother of two.
For business, it means additional expenses in terms of buying fuel for power generators.
“Normally I pay around Rs.1,200 in a month for electricity. But due to erratic power supply, we have to depend on the generator. The monthly fuel cost of a generator is coming around Rs.4,500, which was less than Rs.1,000 when the power supply was better,” said Rajesh Kumar, owner of a general store here.
The Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) puts the blame on the national pool for the shortfall in supply.
The state needs around 800 MW to meet its requirement but hardly receives 300 MW, said JSEB officials.
“We should get 150 MW from Damodar valley Corp (DVC) but we get only 50 MW due to technical problem. The problem is compounded because the supply from central pools has reduced to 138 MW from Oct 23 from 267 MW earlier,” said V.N. Pandey, the JSEB chairperson.
According to official sources, Chief Minister Madhu Koda has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding additional 250 MW of electricity from the central pool.
Experts, however, point out that the state government has failed to maintain its own units. Electricity production from state units has declined to 80 MW from 250 MW.
The Patratu Thermal Power Plant (PTPS), one of the main thermal power plants in the state, is capable of producing 1,000 MW of power. But most of its units are out of order.
The government has spent more than Rs.3.5 billion on upkeep and modernisation of the JSEB power plants, but not a single unit of power production increased in the last seven years.