The Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) on Saturday agreed to resume power supply to Jharkhand after Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL) made a payment of Rs 400 crore to the former and assured to clear the State’s dues worth nearly Rs 5,000 crore in installments, officials from JBVNL said.
Representatives of DVC attended a closed-door meeting with senior officials of JBVNL in Ranchi on Saturday in a bid to end the deadlock and come to a consensus. “The meeting was successful. We have already paid Rs 400 crore to DVC. And the remaining due amount will also be paid in installments,” said Managing Director of JBVNL, L Khiangte. “We have also decided to make payments of current bills every month. The current monthly bill is not more than Rs 200 crore,” he added.
The DVC had halted supply of power to Jharkhand over a deadlock regarding the clearance of dues that State owed to DVC in the past five years, sources said. According to DVC, the State owed Rs 4,950 crore to the company in the past five years.
DVC’s power blockade had forced life out of track in several districts across Jharkhand since the beginning of March, and voices of suffering commoners echoed in the State Assembly. Several Legislators raised the issue during the ongoing Assembly session and asked the ruling bench to find a quick solution to the power scarcity by ending the deadlock with DVC.
Soon after the meeting on Saturday, a DVC official from Kolkata said that the message has been sent to DVC and power supply will resume within hours.
He said the disputes were settled and Jharkhand will get unhindered power supply hereon. In the past one week, localities in Dhanbad, Hazaribag, Koderma and other districts dependent on DVC for power supply received hardly few hours of electricity every day. The power shortage also created hurdles in maintaining health care facilities in some parts of Jharkhand.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Hemant Soren met Chief Executive Officer of Tata Power, Praveer Sinha at CM’s residence in Ranchi.
Soren said that maintaining power supply in Jharkhand was one of the top priorities of the Government, and sought Sinha’s support in ensuring uninterrupted power supply across Jharkhand.
Talking to the CM, Sinha said Tata Power will use modern technology to strengthen the power supply system in Jharkhand and support the Government in keeping its promise of providing uninterrupted electricity to every household.