Power situation in Jharkhand to improve soon: JSEB chief
TNN | Aug 19, 2011,
SINDRI: Jharkhand State Electricity Board chairman S N Verma said the power situation in the state would start improving in 10 days and Jharkhand will be a power surplus state within the next five years.

Talking to newspersons here on Thursday, Verma said: "The grim situation is mainly because of bad distribution system which is not able to hold power for long. The board has taken steps to strengthen the distribution system to minimise power cuts," he said, adding that after complete rural electrification, the power requirement of the state would be around 1,800 MW against the present requirement of 1,400 MW during peak hours.

The board at present is getting 40 MW of power from Patratu, 120 MW from Sikidiri, 250 MW from DVC besides the central allocation of 300-400 MW of power.

At present, while one unit of TVNL is in running condition, the other one is expected to start generating power in in a week. Besides, Tata Power will start supplying nearly 150MW from Maithan in the next 10 days, which will help improve the power situation to a great extent. Besides, we are trying hard to make PTPS capable of generating 300 MW of power, he added.

Verma, a BIT Sindri alumnus, said it was a myth that the PTPS would not function. The plant was not generating power as expected only because maintenance of the plant machinery was not undertaken in time, he said.

Apart from this, two new projects of super critical thermal power plant, each capable of generating 1320 MW of power one at Patratu and the other at Chandil or Gumla, is also underway, which when started will make Jharkhand a power surplus state.

It is unfortunate that no recruitment has been made in the state electricity board in the last decade and a total staff strength of the board has come down to just 20%.

This is also responsible for the poor performance of the board, he said adding heavy rains and thundering are other reasons contributing to the grim power situation.

Over 200 new engineers are likely to join JSB in September. Purchase of transformers, breakers, relays and cables in adequate quantity is also in the pipeline. "Besides, we have also arranged for training of officials for a change in their attitude towards the consumers and their duty to bring about a qualitative change in the service being provided by the board," he added.

According to him, trifurcation of the board is a compulsion and it should be completed by December. "We will talk to employees opposing division of the board to convince them in this regard," he added.
Earlier, addressing the induction meet of first semester students of BIT, Sindri, he narrated his experience at the institute during his student days and called upon the budding engineers to study hard.
He also planted saplings on the institute campus on this occasion.