The Hindu Business Line : Central utilities blamed for Bengal power shortage

THE West Bengal Power Minister, Mr Mrinal Banerjee, has held Central sector utilities "partially' responsible for the ongoing power shortage in the State during peak hours.

Unless these utilities maintain their committed supplies to the State, the overall power availability situation may not reach up to the satisfactory level till new generation capacities, which are under various stages of implementation, are ready by 2007.

Mr Banerjee said West Bengal was entitled to get about 1,000 MW of power every day from Central sector utilities such as NTPC, NHPC, DVC and Power Trading Corporation. Since, the State was not getting at present even 50 per cent of the entitled supplies from them, it had been reeling under power shortage for the last couple of months. The Minister said that he was going to Delhi on September 17 and would appraise the appropriate authorities of the situation.

Addressing the members of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BNCCI) here on Friday, Mr Banerjee said that the power demand in the State increased manifold in recent times as a sequel to setting up of many Greenfield power consuming industries, an increased off-take by rural sector and for the system augmentation in transmission sector.

In fact, the State power department failed to anticipate the additional demand in such a short span of time, thereby putting it in a difficult situation.

The Minister said that his Ministry was giving maximum priority in the area of transmission and distribution so that whatever power generated by the State Government-controlled West Bengal Power Development Corporation, could be evenly distributed right up to rural areas.

About Rs 1,500 crore was being spent to improve transmission facilities. The services of NTPC and Power Grid Corporation would be sought on a turnkey basis to lay transmission network in certain districts of the State.

Mr Banerjee said that the State Government had already issued letter of credit (LoC) for creation of additional 1,150 MW generation capacities. This included 600 MW from the Greenfield Sagardighi thermal power project, 250 MW from the expansion programme of Santaldih thermal power plant, 300 MW from Durgapur Project Ltd's thermal power plant. This apart, 420 MW capacity would be created at the existing Bakreshwar thermal power plant. He indicated that the 900-MW capacity Purulia pump storage power project would be ready by 2007.

However, the BNCCI President, Mr S.K. Chakraborty, has suggested that power be brought from NTPC at a cheaper rate for cost-effective supply for industries and domestic users. Although the measures taken by the State power department in minimising transmission and distribution losses were laudable, he said that efforts should be made towards reducing transmission and distribution losses further, until they reaches a reasonable level.

He also submitted that the small-scale as well as local units in the State might be given price preference in respect of material procurement, as practiced in other States. This would not only help the entrepreneurs to compete, but would also de-motivate them to move out to other States.