Power outages? All is well, claim officials

PATNA: With the onset of summer, almost all the city areas have been facing frequent power outages. The South Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd (SBPDCL) officials say it’s for routine maintenance. Even on Saturday, almost all the localities went without power on an average for three to four hours for maintenance purposes causing hardship to the residents.
SBPDCL superintending engineer (Patna west) Dilip Kumar Singh said, “The shutdowns are for the maintenance work under the Reconstructed Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (RAPDRP), which began in November, 2013. The project will continue till June. However, we notify the shutdowns in advance through newspapers to avoid inconvenience to the residents.”
New feeder lines, underground cabling networks, erecting new poles, replacement of damaged equipment of several substations, laying of new 11kv and 33kv lines, etc, are being undertaken under the RAPDRP project to strengthen the transmission and distribution network, said SBPDCL sources.
“Bihar needs a maximum 2,700MW during peak hours. The total allocation now is around 2,500MW. There is shortage of 100 to 150MW, which is easily compensated. However, three NTPC units — one each at Kahalgaon, Farakka and Barh — are close for maintenance. While unit 4 of Kahalgaon and unit 6 of Farakka of 500MW are closed for overhauling which may take at least 20 days, Barh unit 4 of 660MW is closed to repair some tube leakage. However, Barh will start functioning in a day or two,” GM (transmission) Arun Kumar Sinha told TOI.
Even Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Ltd spokesperson Hare Ram Pandey said people are informed in advance. “There is no power shortage in district towns. We are supplying 16 to 18 hours power even in rural areas,” he said.
Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Limited chairman Pratyaya Amrit also denied any gap between demand and supply. “Everything is fine. The NTPC units are closed for maintenance and it is not an issue. We are managing well,” he said.