Patna enjoys power, while rural Bihar suffers

Patna, May 30: Bihar's capital, Patna enjoys 90 percent of total power supply, leaving behind the rest of the state with power cuts, that extends to three to four consecutive days.

Districts of Bihar like Muzzafarpur, Bhagalpur, Gaya and Sheikpura have seen violent protests and anger spilling onto the roads as they were forced to take up this step due to inconvinience of power supply.

Out of the total of 800 MW supplied to Bihar, 375 is for essential services, of the remaining 425 MW, Patna gets 400 and rest of the state, gets only 25 MW.

Meenakshi Mishra a protester said, "We have blocked the road to protest non availability of water and electricity and till we get them both we will continue to protest" and their demand is 1800 MW in Rural Bihar.

"We have been suffering from drought from last 2 years and It is very hot this year also, we haven't been able to get water for our crop. It could be drought-like situation. We are not able to get water from water pumps as there is no electricity." Umesh Singh, a farmer said.

He even complained that this unequal distribution of electricity has made their lives hell as due to no electricity in summers for three consecutive days, have dried up the irrigation canals.

Hare Ram Pandey, Spokesperson, Bihar Electricity board said, "We have 2 no of 110 MW units, which are already more than 26 years old. It has outlived its life and considering its bad position, already R and M has been started."

OneIndia News