Jharkhand needs to improve its power transmission & distribution on a war footing to avert further losses on this account. Sounding the alarm bells at the inaugural session of a national seminar on ??Power sector reforms & consumer advocacy?? here, Planning Commission member (power) BK Chaturvedi said the power sector?s viability in Jharkhand would require substantial reduction in both its aggregate transmission & commercial (AT&C) losses as well as its transmission & distribution (T&D) losses, which stood at 62.3% and 48.2%, respectively, in 2005-06.
The seminar, held last week, was co-hosted by XLRI and the Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JSERC), and was attended by the chairmen of state regulatory bodies of West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, etc.
Jharkhand, which already buys 75% of its power from outside, wants to triple this drawal in three years to meet the increase in demand from industry. ??I don?t see how the same system can bear this? There will be huge losses as the system will get overloaded,?? said Chaturvedi. He said unless there was huge expansion and corrective steps taken by the state, the problem would aggravate. The Plan panel would like to discuss the steps being taken by Jharkhand towards either privatisation or appointment of franchisees in the sector, he added.
Chaturvedi said the four central public sector power plants coming up in North Karanpura, Bokaro, Maithon and Koderma, which together would have a generating capacity of 4,000-5,000mw, would need the support and coordination of the state government for timely completion, including creation of dams for meeting their water needs. ??This (the four units) is going to be a huge plus for the state, as much of it will flow to the state,?? he said.
Chaturvedi also urged the state government to decide quickly on where it would like to shift the 4,000mw ultra mega power plant which had originally been planned to come up at Bari in Hazaribagh district. ??It?s (the project) not moving forward; it?s one state where there is dispute about the place and the state has to decide quickly,?? he added.
The Planning Commission is yet to receive a plan of action from Jharkhand as to how it proposes to exploit the 200mw hydro-power potential which it claims it has. The proposed Rs 2,600-crore expansion plan by Jharkhand in the next five years must be accompanied by bringing about substantial improvement in the transmission sector, the panel feels.
