SEB staff spike Jharkhand power reforms

• Due to frequent power cuts, the cost of running the generator has gone up from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000 per month — Prakash Budhia, a businessman.

These are just a few of the innumerable grievances that the people of Jharkhand would air on any given day vis-a-vis the power situation in the state.

And they are a reminder to the fact that the proposed power reforms, the outcome of the Union Government’s Electricity Act, 2003 has run into rough weather even before receiving formal clearance from the state government.

‘‘We had sought more time to honour the Act. Now the Union Ministry of Power has accepted our plea and set October 9 as the deadline to implement reforms’’, T Nandkumar, Jharkhand State Electricity Board chairman, told The Indian Express.

The nomenclature of these companies — Jharkhand Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd, Jharkhand Rajya Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd and Jharkhand Rajya Vidyut Vikas Nigam Ltd — and their memorandum of articles were also okayed.

But before the state Government notified the Cabinet’s decision, Munda put his foot down in the face of a majority of the JSEB’s employees going up in arms demanding to stay put with the JSEB. ‘‘This compelled us to approach the Union Power Ministry seeking six more months to set the reforms rolling’’, said a senior JSEB officer on condition of anonymity.

With the reforms withheld, the state is hard pressed to meet the growing demand of power, which was around 550-600 MW in 2000 and 1200-1250 in 2006 (January 1). Since the state government-run two thermal power plants produced 210-230 MW against their installed capacity of more than 2000 MW, Jharkhand was purchasing 267 MW on an average every day from the Central sector — NTPC 230 MW, Ranjit Hydel 8 MW and Chukka Hydel 29 MW.

Despite this, the state is perpetually in short supply of around 550-600 MW. ‘‘The problem intensified whenever any state-run plant tripped or transmission and distribution lines suffered faults’’, said K Vidyasagar, former secretary (Energy). Incidentally, on June 8, the generation at the Patratu Thermal Power Plant had dipped to zero.

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