Energy situation in Bihar

Bihar has the per capita energy consumption of 75 KW as against a national average of 600 KW.

Energy Minister Bijeyndra Yadav said the crisis was due to a sharp drop in the availability of power from Central agencies like the NTPC. Against an average supply of 1100 MW per day, the state at present was getting a meager 660 MW, Yadav said.

The minister pointed out that in view of the festive season—Ramzan and Duss-ehra—the state had demanded an additional 200 MW per day and it was not being fulfilled despite repeated pleas. “I will raise the matter during the upcoming September 24 meeting of power ministers in New Delhi,” he said.

Since early this month large parts of the state, including capital Patna, have been witnessing severe power cuts. At many places angry residents have even resorted to violent protests. In a bid to derive political mileage out of the situation, the Congress and RJD have staged demonstrations and burnt effigies of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Recently, Congress workers in Bhagalpur smeared the face of a top Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) officer with black ink to protest the power cuts. The district administration immediately identified and lodged an FIR against the Congress workers. To protest the action, the Congress and RJD jointly called Bhagalpur bandh and burnt effigies of the Chief Minister.

The NTPC on its part has pointed out that due to annual maintenance work being undertaken at its generating units at Talcher, Farakka and Khalagaon, it was unable to meet the demand of the state.

Efforts of the state Government to revive its own defunct thermal units at Kanti and Barauni have not yielded results so far and for this too the state blames NTPC and BHEL, which have been entrusted with the responsibility of renovating the two units. Claiming that Bihar had the best track record as far as the payment of power dues to the NTPC was concerned, the minister pointed out that the present Government had cleared dues of Rs 400 crore accrued during the tenure of the previous RJD Government.