Jammu & Kashmir power for Chhattisgarh

Jammu & Kashmir will provide power to Chhattisgarh this summer to beat the power crisis while the latter will return it in the same proportion with a bonus of five per cent in the winter when the valley-state will reel under energy shortage.

The pact between both the states was finalised through the NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited""a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)--recently.

While the J&K will start supplying power in next couple of days, Chhattisgarh will return it in November and onwards.

"Under the pact, J&K will provide 100 MW of power to the state while we will return 105 MW. The necessary formalities have been completed and the state will start getting power from J&K from April 16," Chhattisgarh state electricity board (CSEB) secretary Manoj Dey told Business Standard.

The state will draw power from Kashmir for the entire summer""the period when the once-power surplus state would reel under severe power crises.

Dey conceded that there was a huge gap of 500 MW between demand and supply in the state at this point of time.

The installed capacity of the state-run power board is 1410.85 MW. With the state getting power from other sources, it reaches to 1950 MW.

The demand, however, has already reached 2500 MW and is likely to increase as summer advances.

The board has increased the time of load shedding as a temporary measure to maintain the balance between demand and supply.

While the industries are facing power cut for about 6 hours daily between 6 p.m. and 12 mid-night, the district headquarters barring Raipur, Bilaspur and Korba will remain without power for one hour daily in the morning.

The villages in Chhattisgarh are already facing the heat with more than 4 hours power cut in morning and evening hours.

The load shedding will continue till May 30, sources in the board said.

"The 100 MW from Kashmir will help in reducing the gap as the board is also exploring other options to meet the crises," Dey said.

The state officials are in touch with the other states to purchase power. But the deal could not be finalised except the one with Jammu and Kashmir.

Chhattisgarh, under the pact, will assist Jammu and Kashmir in meeting some proportion of the demand when it will reach peak during the winter.

With the valley-state having maximum hydel power stations, the state plunges into acute power crises when water freezes with mercury level dipping minus.

Besides power generation comes down, power consumption goes up in Kashmir during winter when people using different electronic devices to keep themselves warm.