SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, April 13: The normal life of people in seven districts of North Chhotanagpur Division Hazaribagh, which falls in the command area of DVC, has been paralyzed in the wake of a short supply of power for the last several days.
As per the agreement with the Jharkhand government, DVC has to supply 550 MW of power per day in these seven districts but the JBVNL officials said that only 282 MW is being supplied here.
As the temperature has been rising since the onset of April, load shedding for 16 to 18 hours is being done in Dhanbad, Giridih, Chas (Bokaro), Koderma, Ramgarh, Hazaribagh and Chatra districts.
Among the seven districts, Dhanbad is supposed to get the highest 180 MW per day but against it, only 70 MW is being provided here.
“In such conditions, it is tough to supply electricity for more than eight hours,” said Shailendra Bhushan Tiwary, an executive engineer of the JBVNL Dhanbad area board.
Similarly, the Giridih district has to receive 75 MW of power per day but it gets only 30 MW. Chas (Bokaro) which comes under the Dhanbad area board has to get 45 MW but officials said that it is being given hardly 10 to 15 MW.
Following power blues, people are gasping to combat the ongoing heatwave, drinking water supply and darkness at night. Even business establishments and small scale industries in these seven districts have been paralyzed due to electricity shortage.
Rattled by people’s plight, Dhanbad Sadar MLA Raj Sinha of BJP and Giridih Sadar MLA of JMM Sudivya Kumar have plunged into agitation for mounting pressure on the concerned authorities of JBVNL.
MLA Raj Sinha along with a delegation of affected people met JBVNL officials today and asked for an immediate remedy to the power crisis for bailing out the public from woes.
“I have already talked with the energy secretary and JBVNL chairman over the crisis and they have assured for an action,” said MLA Raj Sinha. The BJP MLA also warned that he will not return from the JBVNL office campus and will sit on an indefinite dharna if the supply situation is not improved soon.
JMM Giridih MLA Sudivya Kumar said he had talked with the energy secretary and asked him to arrange power supply as per requirement by purchasing from outside. “Present power crisis will be solved soon,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, the students’ unions have also threatened to descend on the road if the power supply is not restored properly in Dhanbad. Leaders of ABVP, NSUI and Jharkhand Chhatra Sangh said that due to Covid- 19 lockdown, the examination session has started in the university, but due to the power crisis, students find it difficult to continue their studies in houses in the evening.
