"The final round of negotiations would be held today and I believe that thestriking employees have accepted the UPSEB notification," Kumaramangalamsaid here.

Stating that the power situation in the north was normal, Kumaramangalamsaid that power supply to the states was being maintained without the gridbeing affected.

Meanwhile, highly placed power ministry officials told PTI that about 20,000workers including engineers had already joined work on Monday and hoped thatTuesday would be the last stage of the strike.

In a note to cabinet secretary Prabhat Kumar, the power ministry said thatit was their understanding that "the striking leaders are worn out and haveaccepted as fait accompli the notification trifucating the UPSEB."

Stating that the northern region was generating 15,600 mw, the officialssaid that even peak hour demand of 4,500 mw in Uttar Pradesh was beingmet.

The officials said that the token strike call given by Maharashtra powerengineers on Monday was called off, but in Madhya Pradesh the workers wereon "work to rule". The Centre was totally supporting the state government onits move for trifurcating UPSEB, Kumaramangalam said and added that theaccumulated losses of the electricity board was to the tune of Rs 19,000crore.

"We intend to carry the reform process and want other states to follow thepath to provide good quality power at cheaper prices to the consumers," hesaid adding that the transmission and distribution losses in Uttar Pradeshwas estimated to be around 43 per cent.

The officials said discussions with striking leaders on issues includingthat of the suggestion made by Raja Ram Mishra of Indian Trade UnionCongress (Intuc) that employees might be taken on deputation to thecorporation and be treated as government servants would also be taken up.However, they said, this would again not be acceptable and "resolution wouldveer around to more acceptable conditions."

Giving details about the entire power supply situation in the four regions,the officials said that in the eastern region power generation was about7,000 mw and the demand of 6,000 mw was met.

About 1,000 mw of power was exported from the eastern region to North, West,North-East and South, they said adding about 430 mw of power was imported inthe northern and the western regions. Stating that National Thermal PowerCorporation was generating more than 7,100 mw of power in the north, theofficials said NTPC's plants were being operated on full capacity includingthe 650 mw gas-based Auriya plant in Uttar Pradesh.

In the south, power generation was 15,400 mw and the load was normal andabout 200 mw of power was imported in the region from east and west, theysaid adding the generation in the western region was to the tune of 20,000mw with frequency being maintained at the normal 49 hz. "We did not want thegrid to collapse and wanted to protect our installations and see that theconsumers are not affected due to the strike," Kumaramangalam said.

UPSEB owes over Rs 3,000 crore to the central utilities and the value oftheft losses would be to the tune of Rs 1,725 crore annually, he said.Officials said that power consumption before the strike was 99 million unitswhich had come down marginally to 96 million units after the strike. PTIWhile UPSEB owes NTPC about Rs 2,388 crore, the electricity board has to payRs 1,030.82 crore to National Hydro Power Corporation.

Stating that there might have been some disturbances during the strike, theofficials said that power was being supplied on a regular basis to almost 20towns in Uttar Pradesh.