JSEB powerlines at Manifit, near Nildih, on the city’s outskirts. (Animesh Sengupta)

Consumers and industrial units serviced by Jharkhand State Electricity Board reeled under blackouts since Thursday night due to supply restrictions from central load despatch (CLD), Ranchi, a direct fallout of low power generation from Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Limited (TVNL) and Patratu Thermal Power Station (PTPS).

The worst hit were densely populated areas such as Mango, Sundernagar, Parsudih, Govindpur, Adityapur and other neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the city.

Industrial units at Adityapur and Gamharia, also dependent on the state power board, were hit hard. Most units were unable to meet their production schedules due to erratic power supply.

JSEB officials admitted that even on Friday the CLD was continuing to supply power much below minimum requirement cut-offs.

Superintending engineer of JSEB A.P. Singh admitted that almost all the neighbourhoods served by the state power board were facing an acute power crisis due to supply restrictions.

“One unit of TVNL is already closed for the last few days due to some technical problems. The power generated by Patratu power plant is less than 100 MW. So you can imagine the magnitude of the crisis,” said Singh.

The Golmuri sub-station on Friday received 20MW, against a minimum requirement of 35MW.

The Gamharia power grid sub-station, which also supplies power to Adityapur industrial area, received 50MW against a requirement of 120MW during peak hours.

Mango, which had almost shed its perennially power-starved image with homes getting up to 20 hours of supply, regressed into the dark ages, with blackouts every two hours.

The situation was no better in other JSEB command areas, which faced problems of erratic power supply, prolonged blackouts and voltage fluctuations. Outages also greeted areas like Galudih and Mosabani.

“We had no power throughout the night. The prolonged nightlong power cuts effectively make inverters useless,” said a Parsudih resident.

The JSEB branch offices of Jamshedpur were flooded with complaints from consumers.

“We had to attend to numerous phone calls from people who blamed us for the crisis. But we were truly helpless. How can we supply power if we don’t get it from the CLD in Ranchi?” said H.N. Singh, a JSEB employee at the Mango branch.