Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, October 11
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar contested Union Power Minister Raj Kumar Singh’s claim and said the state had been reeling under severe electricity crisis.
In New Delhi, Singh had asserted that there was no power crisis. A retired IAS officer, Singh has worked under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at the Centre and also the state. He also hails from Bihar.
Talking to media persons, Nitish said Bihar was facing power shortage during the festival season. In the last three days, Bihar purchased 570 lakh units of power from the private sector by paying Rs 90 crores.
“There is a big gap in demand and supply now. Fact is Bihar is facing a power crisis like other states. There is inadequate power supply from NTPC also. We are purchasing power from other sources at higher rates,” the Chief Minister said.
He said his officers have told power production has declined due to a drop in coal supply. The NTPC has shut one unit at its Kahalgaon plant resulting in a shortfall of 1300 megawatts. The thermal power stations at Kanti and Barauni have shut down.
In rural parts of Bihar, six to eight hours loadshedding has started. Reports reaching from Dhanbad, headquarters of the Bharat coking coal limited, today said coal output had declined as many open cast mines were still waterlogged due to incessant rains and coal could not be extracted.
Government had stopped importing coal from Australia leading to pressure on the state-owned coal units.
