Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has sent a proposal to the Jharkhand government to allow it to complete the construction of the proposed 210 mw Chandil Thermal Power Station near Jamshedpur through a joint venture.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) chairman Rajiv Ranjan has said the state would be power surplus by December and it could stop load-shedding by March, 2002.
Industry circles here have condemned the JSEB chairman's statement, even as the state electricity board is finding it difficult to settle the wrangle over the sharing of assets and liabilities with the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB), as ridiculous.
Both the electricity boards have met several times for finding a solution for the issue under the Central supervision.
BSEB has a liability to the tune of Rs 5,400 crore and its manpower is 23,000.
Jharkhand's demand is that the division of assets and liabilities should be on the basis of power consumption ratio of 54:46. As per this ratio, Bihar will have to bear Rs 2,916 crore on liability account, while Jharkhand's burden would be around Rs 2,484 crore. The number of employees for Bihar would be 12,420 and for Jharkhand 10,580.
On the other hand, if population is considered as the basis for the division as Jharkhand demands, Bihar would have a financial liability worth Rs 4,050 crore and 17,250 employees. Jharkhand would bear lesser liability of Rs 1,350 crore and 5,750 employees.
Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi has requested the Centre to adopt this principle.
In the case of the electricity board of Chhattisgarh, the assets and liabilities was divided on the basis of population.
Meanwhile, Rajiv Ranjan has demanded an extension to the tenure of the committee constituted by the Centre to chalk out the modalities of the division.
