Patna, April 4: Bihar residents would have to cope with power shortage for a few more years as chief minister Nitish Kumar today admitted that the problem would continue for the next three-four years till the new power plants are commissioned in the state.

Talking to reporters after the janata darbar at his official residence, Nitish said: “There is huge gap between demand and supply of power in the state. We have to cope with the situation since Bihar is dependent on others (central sector allocation) for power supply. This situation (power shortage) will remain for the next three-four years till new plants come up.”

He added: “With the strengthening of transmission, sub-transmission and distribution system, the power consumption has increased in Bihar over the years. Today, we have the capacity to consume 3,000MW of electricity in comparison to 900MW till a few years ago. We are totally dependent on the central government (allocation) but the Centre has been giving 800MW to the state.”

He, however, exuded confidence that things would be put on track in a few years to meet state’s energy requirement. “We are working hard to strengthen the power scenario in the state. The government is working on a number of power plants some of them with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). We have floated tenders to purchase electricity from other sources to meet the shortage.”

The power situation again worsened today pushing the entire state into darkness after power generation came to a halt at unit number 2 of Talcher thermal power plant.

The allocation plummeted to 726MW, which is less than half of the scheduled allocation of 1,722MW from the central sector.

“We are getting 726MW against 1,722MW from the Centre. It may force the board to resort to load-shedding to avail power to the entire state on a rotation basis. Hence, people will have to face load-shedding,” Bihar State Electricity Board spokesman and public relations director H.R. Pandey told The Telegraph.

The state has been facing severe power shortage for the past one month due to its dependence on power allocation from the central sector power plants of the NTPC and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).

In the past one month, one or two power plant units of NTPC at Farakka, Kahalgaon and Talcher at regular intervals stopped generating power either because of technical snag or agitation, leading to a crisis in Bihar. The state has a fixed quota from each power plant of NTPC and NHPC. If generation stops in any of the plants, it has a direct impact on Bihar’s allocation from the central sector.

Taking strong exception to power crisis phraseology being commonly used by all, Nitish said: “Don’t term it (the power shortage situation) power crisis rather it should be referred to as power scarcity.”

Besides this, the state is getting 80MW and 60MW from Kanti and Barauni respectively, Pandey said adding the state usually gets around 170MW to 180MW from 500MW capacity unit 2 of Talcher power plant.

On an average, the capital is supplied around 413MW but after the crisis, the supply is hovering between 300MW and 350MW depending on the availability of electricity, board’s official sources said.