Ranchi/Jamshedpur, April 27: Reeling from the worst power supply crisis in five years, the Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) has little hope at hand but is gearing up to act as saviours for several women.

Overwhelmed by the huge turnout of women at the headquarters today, the board announced that it would induct women as part of a permanent management information system.

More than a month ago, JSEB had advertised for posts for women to distribute energy bills, help in realising bills and even carrying out minor repairs. However, as more than 125 women braved the heat to turn up at the headquarters, JSEB chairman Brij Mohan Verma announced that they would permanently induct women not only to boost revenues but also to get proper feedback of ground realities.

“We would not like to restrict women to mundane jobs. We would train them to give us a correct picture of what is happening at the ground level where it is not possible for the JSEB chairman to visit regularly,” Verma said.

The move comes at a time when the state is reeling under prolonged power cuts as supplies both from internal generation and drawals from the central grid have far outstripped demand.

With temperatures soaring over 40°C, figures released by the central load despatch centre indicated that total generation in the state from Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Limited as well as from Patratu Thermal Power Station was pegged at 282MW against a peak time demand of 700MW.

Though JSEB was overdrawing nearly 282MW from the central pool against its allocation of 222MW, there was a shortfall of 140MW, resulting in forced power cuts throughout the day in phases.

Deputy general manager and superintending engineer of Jamshedpur Area Board, M.P. Chaudhary said that for the past few days the Golmuri power grid sub-station is getting about 15MW against a requirement of 40MW.

The Gamharia grid sub-station is getting about 50MW against 120MW.

“The second unit of Tenughat is under repair and maintenance. Though the four Patratu units are operational, they trip frequently due to overloading. We are hoping for an improvement only after May 15 as the maintenance of the second Tenughat unit is expected to be complete by then,” said a senior JSEB official.

The JSEB chairman said experts from Bombay and Delhi have already been called in to repair and service two units at Patratu.