Patna, March 30: People today made alternate arrangements to catch all the thrills and excitement of the India-Pakistan World Cup cricket semi-final live keeping in mind the poor power supply. But Bihar State Electricity Board too did not disappoint cricket lovers, thanks to an improved power allocation from the central sector to Bihar.

Considering the situation in the past 12 days or so, when the board supplied power barely three to four hours a day, people in the districts, which have borne the brunt of the acute power shortage, had made alternative arrangements, right from hiring generator sets to community viewing on projectors or in cinemas.

People, wary of the truant power supply, had already planned to get the latest match updates either through the Internet mobile TV or traditional radio commentary, particularly in rural areas.

The impact of the nerve-wracking Indo-Pak match could be gauged from the fact that the capital led the state in celebrating the gala event.

Roads and markets wore a deserted look, bringing life to a standstill. The situation was no different in other parts of the state where major district headquarters of Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Purnea, Motihari too witnessed a curfew-like situation on roads with people preferring to remain indoors.

“We are getting 1,150MW of electricity against the scheduled allocation of 1,722MW from the central sector,” board spokesman and public relations director H.R. Pandey told The Telegraph. He added the state’s two unit at Kanti and Barauni were also generating 70MW and 50MW respectively.

Muzaffarpur

“No customer turned up at my shop for the past hour (after the match started) to buy medicines,” medicine shop owner Sabir Khan at Banaras Bank Chowk said.

Bhagalpur

Cricket lovers at Bhagalpur heaved a sight of relief following the undisrupted power supply. “Thanks to BSEB, it provides us power to watch the semi-final match now,” said Seema Kumari, a college student and a cricket lover here.

Gaya

Multimedia cellphone sets also proved to be a good source to remain updated on the Mohali score. “Cricket fans busy with their job or some other urgent work had got mobile TV installed in their cellphones to watch the game,” said Rajiv Kumar Sharma, a business executive in a private firm.

Motihari

Residents of Motihari were quite unlucky in comparison to the people residing in other parts of the state, as they had to miss the opening as well as the first hour of the high-voltage match owing to inability to arrange for an inverter or a generator.

Chhapra

“It’s a miracle,” exclaimed a student, Vishesh Yasheel. “The electricity is there. Of course, the uninterrupted power supply since the start of the match is proving to be a miracle for people here. All arrangements of generator sets through subscription are in place,” he added.