Koda SOS on power crisis

The power crisis in Jharkhand has deteriorated immediately after the Jharkhand arm of the Congress Party served a 60-day ultimatum, saying 'perform or perish', to UPA-supported coalition government in Jharkhand led by the independent MLA Madhu Koda.

The Congress had sent a list of complaints against the functioning of the Koda government in which the power sector was one of them.

To resolve the present power crisis in the state, chief minister Koda sent an SOS to the Union power ministry seeking 250MW additional power daily.

Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) had approached the Orissa Power Generation Corporation for power but it was asked to pay Rs 6.29 per unit, almost triple the DVC tariff levied in the state.

JSEB was presently facing a shortage of over 260MW of power every day as the power generation units of the state government were producing below their capacity.

Power sector sources said the power situation in Jharkhand would have been much better if the state-run Patratu Thermal Power Station (PTPS) produced near its capacity.

PTPS was producing a maximum of 80MW while JSEB expected 400MW from PTPS by the end of 2007.

JSEB chairman V N Pandey recently visited PTPS to find out ways to augment power generation from the plant but failed in his efforts.

The Union power ministry was not happy with the refusal of JSEB to go ahead with unbundling of the state power board over the last few years despite constant reminders.

JSEB sources said it could be difficult to get power from the Union power ministry as additional supply as various Centre-sponsored schemes in the power sector were being implemented in a slip-shod manner.