Patna, Jan. 4: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) has extended the deadline to complete renovation and modernisation of two 110MW thermal plants at Barauni, much to the chagrin of state electricity board officials.

The engineering and manufacturing giant has set July 2012 and February 2013 as the new dates to complete its task at the two plants. The earlier deadlines were November 2011 and March 2012 respectively.

Though Bhel authorities have assured the state government that they would meet the revised deadline, senior Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) officials are not convinced.

“Bhel has pledged to complete the renovation and maintenance work with the new deadline. But given the slow progress of work at the two plants, it would be difficult for them to even meet the deadline,” a senior BSEB official told The Telegraph.

Asked why the pace of the renovation work was not up to the mark, he said: “Companies such as Bhel are not interested in carrying out renovation and maintenance work for such small plants. Instead, they are interested in setting up new projects and expansion work of thermal plants.”

The official added that the Planning Commission had awarded the contract for the renovation work for the Barauni power plants in Begusarai district to Bhel. The panel also provides funds directly to Bhel and its consultant National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

Incidentally, Bhel is also carrying out renovation and modernisation work at two power plants at Kanti in Muzaffarpur districts.

The sources said the Kanti projects were on schedule. Bhel is supposed to complete its work at the first 110MW unit at Kanti by April 2012, while the deadline for the second unit is August this year.

Of the two plants at Kanti and as many at Barauni, one generates 80MW (Kanti) and another 70MW (Barauni) as against their installed capacity of 110MW. Generation in two other plants at Kanti and Barauni has been suspended since 2003-04.

The state government had prepared the renovation and maintenance plan for Kanti and Barauni in 2006-07 and sought funds from the Centre for the purpose. Following this, the Union government sanctioned Rs 560 crore. The amount was, however, insufficient to carry out the work.

The Centre later sanctioned an enhanced sum of Rs 1,053 crore, following which the reno-vation work began.

State energy minister Vijendra Prasad Yadav had discussed the renovation and maintenance work with the Bhel chairman and managing director B.P. Rao, when the latter visited the state in in January 2011. Though the minister had asked him to complete the work on time, the work has been running nine months behind schedule.

“We are taking follow-up action with Bhel officials to complete the renovation and modernization work within a stipulated time,” state elect-ricity board spokesman H.R. Pandey told The Telegraph.

Once the plants become operational, the state would have a total 440MW. This is crucial for the industrial and agricultural development in the state.

At present, Bihar is heavily dependent on Central sector allocation of 1772MW to meet its daily requirements. The state’s own power generation is almost negligible (about 150 MW, including 50MW from hydel units).

Bihar, which on an average gets about 1200-1300MW from the central sector as against its scheduled allocation of 1,772MW, has to manage all its requirements, including 400-450MW for Patna and 350MW for essential services like railways, defence, airports, agriculture university, dairy and Buddha Tourist Circuit.