Patna, Oct. 20: The state power board, it seems, had pledged uninterrupted supply during the puja days without considering the dwindling allocation from the central sector.
Barely two days after promising the residents of Patna round-the-clock power supply during the four days of Durga Puja, Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) today hinted that the dwindling allocation might cause some problems for it to keep its word.
"We have been receiving around 175MW to 200MW less allocation of power during the past two-and-a-half months compared to what we got during the corresponding period last year. The board withdrew 730MW in August 2012 against 909MW during the corresponding month last year. Similarly, we got 725MW in September 2012, against last year's 913MW. The situation worsened in October when the board received 714MW till the middle of the month against last year's 959MW from the central sector," BSEB spoke-sperson H.R. Pandey said.
He added that the state has been purchasing 500MW from the open market, of which it has been drawing 300MW.
The board has requested both NTPC and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) to enhance the state's allocation to meet its energy requirement during the puja days.
"Energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav had on October 17 raised the issue with the NTPC chairman-cum-managing director and requested the latter to allocate more power to Bihar from its thermal power plants. Similar request has been made to the NHPC chairman-cum-managing director as well. The aim is to meet the demand during Dussehra, " Pandey said.
Both NTPC and NHPC authorities have assured the board that they would try to provide maximum power allocation to Bihar during the festive days, Pandey said.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar today asked BSEB officials to launch an intensive campaign against electricity theft and penalise culprits.
Nitish issued the order during a high-level review meeting of the BSEB here, an official statement said. The state, which is power starved, is losing a large amount of electricity due to theft and transmission losses.