Patna, April 5: The power situation in the state continues to be grim with the central sector allocation falling way below the scheduled share.

The state on Tuesday received 751MW, less than half the scheduled allocation of 1722MW from the central sector. The situation worsened as the generation came to a halt at unit number 2 of Talcher thermal power plant of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). The corporation’s unit number five at Farakka has also been put under scheduled maintenance for 35 days from April 1, aggravating the crisis further.

The state usually gets around 170-180MW each from the 500MW-capacity unit 2 of Talcher power plant and Farakka unit 5.

“We are receiving less than half the allocation from the central sector (751MW). Kahalgaon’s unit number 6 has started generation on Tuesday. Since we are receiving less power supply, the whole state is having to bear the brunt,” Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) spokesman H.R. Pandey told The Telegraph, adding Barauni and Kanti power plants have been generating 50 and 70MW respectively.

The state gets about 1300MW to 1400MW as against its requirement of 2500MW.

In the past 10 days, except for the days of World Cup semi-final and final matches between India and Pakistan and India and Sri Lanka, the central power allocation was insufficient to meet the need of the districts.

With the cricket championship now over, there is not even a hope of getting improved power allocation on certain days.

The state capital, however, has been luckier as it got a better share of power as compared to those living in the districts. Even then, Patna residents faced load-shedding for about two hours every day.

On an average, the capital receives around 413MW of electricity, but after the crisis began, the supply has been hovering between 300MW and 350MW, official sources at the BSEB said.

Besides the supply to Patna, another 350MW has been earmarked for essential services, including a supply of 60MW to Nepal (as per the agreement with the central government), 90MW to railways, 75MW to continuous process industries, 35MW to defence, airports, agriculture university and dairy. It provides another 20MW to power houses, 20MW for Buddha tourist circuit and 50MW is wasted because of grid and transmission loss.

The worst sufferers of the power crisis have been those living in the 37 districts of the state (Patna excluded), many of whom are receiving barely five to six hours of power supply a day .