Patna, March 3: The Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Limited would run the Barauni Thermal Power Station (BTPS).

A senior official of Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Limited (BSPHCL) told The Telegraph that the decision to run the lone state-owned power plant was taken during the review meeting of the energy department and its various projects on February 23 - the first meeting chief minister Nitish Kumar chaired after taking over the reins of the state again on February 22.

A presentation was made before the chief minister on four different options to run the power plant.

After going through all the four propositions to run the Barauni power plant, Nitish cleared the first proposal and said the engineers of Bihar State Power Generation Company Limited - an undertaking of BSPHCL - would run the plant.

A source quoted the chief minister as saying that the officials (engineers) of Bihar State Power Generation Company Limited should be given proper training besides making them aware of the modern technique.

The source said Nitish liked the first option because the move would enable the company to completely utilise its resources. Besides, the plant would remain in its hands, too.

The four options for operating BTPS were complete in-house operations and maintenance, in-house operations with maintenance outsourcing, operations and maintenance services to a public sector unit and the Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Limited (KBUNL) model.

There were reports published in a section of the media that BSPHCL was considering running the plant under joint venture with NTPC on the KBUNL model.

The Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Station was handed over to NTPC under the joint venture with the erstwhile Bihar State Electricity Board, now BSPHCL.

Even Power Engineering Service Association, an organisation of power officials, had on January 31 demanded not to hand over the state's lone own power plant to NTPC.

The general secretary of the power officials' association, Ashwini Kumar, had written a letter to the chief minister in this regard.