Ranchi/Jamshedpur: Several parts of the state, including the capital and the steel city, that are serviced by Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam (JBVNL) continued to grapple with power pangs on Monday owing to supply restrictions from state load despatch centre for nearly a week.
Power cuts ranging between 20 minutes and five hours are being reported for the past few days. In the capital, Morabadi, HB Road, Lalpur and Kokar are among worst affected. In the steel city, Jugsalai, Mango, Parsudih and Chotagovindpur are most vulnerable.
"Since 7am today (Monday), we have no power. If this continues, generators will run out of fuel," rued Kavya Singh, a resident of Morabadi.
"Power supply resumed at 11am after four hours, but was snapped once more at 1pm," said Rashmi Sahay, a resident of Lalpur, adding that their inverter ran out of charge.
Apart from Ranchi and East Singhbhum, the other affected districts are West Singhbhum, Seraikela-Kharsawan, Daltonganj, Dumka, Pakur and Godda.
The crisis has hit production in Adityapur industrial area. "Small- and medium-scale units are unable to meet production deadlines owing to erratic power. For the last five days, we are barely having uninterrupted supply for more than an hour," said R.K. Sinha, owner of a Tata Motors ancillary unit.
The crisis was primarily triggered by the shutdown of a Tenughat Vidyut Nigam unit owing to coal crunch. The situation became grim after the plant of Adhunik Power and Natural Resources in Kandra stopped production following a technical snag. The power utility draws 125MW from Adhunik. To make matters worse, the Sikidiri hydel plant also stopped generation of power of 130MW at its two units as the water level in the reservoir dropped below 1,915ft.
The three factors combined have resulted in a shortage of around 450MW against a normal demand of 1,050MW in the state. "To bridge the demand-supply gap, efforts are being made to draw power from the central pool from where we already take 45MW," said an official of the state load despatch centre in Kusia, Ranchi.
The shortfall of has left JBVNL with no option but to initiate prolonged load shedding and enforce intermittent power cuts in command areas.
JBVNL officials said three grid substations in Kanke, Namkum and Hatia, which used to take care of supply in the capital, were getting inadequate power. "We have had to restrict power supply in different localities as the grid substations are together getting around 150MW against a daily requirement of 225MW. We are told that supply is expected to improve as the Adhunik unit is likely to resume production by Monday evening," said a power official in Namkum said earlier in the day.
Ghanesh Jha, general manager of JBVNL, Ranchi, agreed. "We were getting rationed supply, but the situation will improve," he said.
General manager of Singhbhum supply area Amarnath Mishra said Golmuri and Gamharia grid substations were getting insufficient power for the last few days following the shutdown at Tenughat. "We are keeping our fingers crossed. Supply is likely to improve once the TVNL unit and Adhunik resume production," he said.
