Nitish blames centre for power scarcity in Bihar

Aurangabad, Dec 27 (UNI) Expressing concern over scarcity of power in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today attributed it to the indifferent approach of the Centre towards the issue.

Mr Kumar told reporters here that Bihar's power requirement is about 1150 MW, while it is getting merely 700 - 750 MW and sometimes the availability of the power goes to 600 MW. The yawning gap between demand and supply of power would continue to give harrowing hours to the people of Bihar if remedial mesures were not taken on priority basis, he added.

Mr Kumar, however, said that the state government had taken several measures to improve the power situation as rejuvenation work were on at Barauni and Kanti thermal power stations. Once the power stations become operation, the availability of the electricity would increase by 400 MW, he added.

''The clearance of several small hydro projects in the state would also augment the availability of the power in coming days'', he maintained.

UNI