Patna, Jan. 3: Next summer, the residents of western parts of the city can expect better power supply. The Digha grid sub-station would be operational by April, easing the pressure on the overloaded Khagaul grid sub-station.
Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) authorities promised to commission the grid sub-station by the end of March or early April after failing to meet the December deadline for its completion. The BSEB spokesperson and director of public relations, H.R. Pandey sounded more ambitious. “The work is going on in full swing and in all likelihood the Digha grid sub-station would be commissioned by end-February,” Pandey told The Telegraph.
This is fourth time that the commissioning of Digha grid sub-station (132/33 KVA) has been rescheduled. First, it was scheduled to be functional by June. Then the deadline was advanced to August-September. Failing to meet the second target, the board tried to complete it by December.
Once the Digha grid sub-station is commissioned, the load of Khagaul grid sub-station, which supplies power to several parts of western Patna, would ease. Power trips are common in western Patna at present because of overload on Khagaul grid.
A top official of Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (PESU) told The Telegraph that the Khagaul grid remains overloaded especially during the summer (April to October). Once the Digha grid becomes operational, the people of western Patna would get relief from perennial power cuts.
Areas like Digha, Patliputra, Raja Bazaar, Ashiana, SK Puri, SK Nagar, IGIMS, Excise Colony and other adjoining areas would get power supply from Digha grid after its commissioning.
“Once this (Digha) grid is operational, it will not only reduce the load burden on Khagaul grid but also be in a position to supply power to other parts of the sub-urban areas,” a source said.
The sources expressed hope that Power Grid, which has been entrusted with the job of completing the project on a turn-key basis, would complete the work by March end or early-April so that people of the state capital do not suffer in the next summer.
Patna at present has six power grids of different capacities — Fatuha (150MVA), Khagaul (150MVA), Mithapur (100MVA), Gaighat (100MVA), Katra (100MVA) and Jakkanpur (170MVA) — and 45 power sub-stations. The six grids supply around 415MW of power to the state capital.
