Bihar faces severe power shortage and long power cuts

Patna, Sep 19 (UNI) People of Bihar were facing severe power crisis for the past two days because of technical snag in power plants and short supply from several power grids outside the state.

Expressing concern at the overall crisis since Monday last which resulted in long power cuts in many areas in the midst of sweltering heat, official sources here today blamed technical snag in the supply from the National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC) and the Talcher Super Thermal Power Station(TSTPS)as the prime reason for the present situation.

The situation compounded further following the start of annual maintenance work in TSTPS and in the Farakka power plant in West Bengal,another major supplier of electricity to Bihar,the sources informed.

As a result of the sudden shut down of the two 500 mw units of NTPC and TSTPS, following technical snag and the annual maintenance work of two more similar units in Farakka and Talcher, Bihar State Electric Supply Board (BSEB) was receiving only about 670 mw of power since Monday against its daily requirement of 1170 mw during the peak hours every day leaving a huge gap of 500 mw,the sources said. However, all efforts were being made to ensure uninterrupted power supply by purchasing power from other functional grids in other states.

Referring to the state's own power generation capabilities, the sources said in the likelyhood of the annual maintenance shutdown of the 210 MW unit of the NTPC's 500 MW Kahalgaon unit in Bhagalpur district from next week,the overall power situation in Bihar was likely to deteriorate further.

''However, we are trying to persuade the NTPC and other major supplier to speed up their maintenance work and take steps on war footing to repair the technical fault and improve generation and supply of electricity in the state at the earliest,'' the sources added.

UNI