Ranchi, Aug. 23: Canara Bank and Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) would soon enter into a unique agreement.

Bank customers, who are board consumers as well, would be able to pay their electricity bills through debit cards at the bank ATMs.

“We are going to start this new facility soon,” announced the deputy general manager of Canara Bank, R.R. Sharma. He was addressing a gathering at the inauguration of the bank’s 46th branch at Kusai Colony area this morning.

Power meet

The state government has begun hectic preparations to submit its status report for the unbundling of JSEB at a meeting of energy secretaries at New Delhi on August 27.

Energy secretaries of all states, including Jharkhand, who are yet to undertake unbundling of their respective state electricity boards, have been asked to attend the crucial Delhi meet to be convened by the Union power ministry.

The ministry has already asked the state government to complete the unbundling of JSEB into four separate entities of generation, transmission, distribution and a holding company to head the three new entities latest by September 30.

Even Jharkhand High Court has ordered that the state should undertake the unbundling of JSEB by September 30. The high court has further ruled that legal prosecution should be launched in case any group or individual obstructs the unbundling process.

The energy secretary Aditya Swarup confirmed that he would be attending the Delhi meet on August 27. Swarup told The Telegraph that the unbundling process JSEB was already on and he expected it to be over by September 30, the deadline fixed by the Centre.