Facing acute shortage of fuel and finance to run its operations the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has exerted pressure on the Jharkhand Government for repayment of its dues. Chairman of the country’s first multi-purpose project has met the Energy Minister and the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand in the light of the recovery which has swelled up to over Rs 5000 crore.
The DVC has approached the State Government afresh and when the Jharkhand Cabinet last week approved payment of Rs 200 crore as dues to the power generator, having operations in the State and neighbouring West Bengal and jointly governed by the two and the Centre.
“I met Energy Minister Rajendra Singh on September 5 and today met the Chief Secretary and requested them for the recovery of Rs 5000 cr of dues which is unpaid against the power supplied to the State electricity board. We are thankful for the release of Rs 200 crore but also need prompt payment of the rest amount which is going up day by day,” said AWK langstieh, Chairman of the DVC on Monday in a press conference.
As per estimate total reconcile and un-reconcile bill with Jharkhand has reached over Rs 8083 crore which has prompted it to snap power supply under its command area. However, the Chairman could not receive any definite timeline for the payment of the dues except only assurance from the State Government.
DVC supplies power to eight districts of Jharkhand falling under its command area. The supply mainly goes to major iron and steel projects, including the Bokaro Steel Plant and others and distributed through the JUVNl earlier JSEB. However, the electricity board pays just 45-50 per cent of the bill and never the complete, said the Chairman, who was on his maiden trip to the State after assuming charge on September 1.
Terming Jharkhand as the biggest stakeholder, the chief of the DVC also put onus on it for making operational the 1000 MW power plant at Koderma. “We are not able to open the plant as first of all the land was not allocated for ash pond and later it got allocated but we have not been able to take possession of it for long due to law and order problem locally. We need greater cooperation from the State Government,” he said.
At the same time, he added that the power major had taken steps to win the hearts and minds of the locals by sanctioning Rs 50 lakhs for building schools and health facilities in the area while taking them on a ‘study trip’ to the other DVC facilities so see how the company operates in harmony with the locals over there.
Speaking about the coal shortage it is facing, the Chairman said that he had requested the CCl for increasing the fuel supply besides, reactivating its own coal mines. Three of its plants had to shut operations last month due to coal crisis which has crippled the DVC along with financial crunch.
The Chairman said that he would ensure board meetings of the DVC take place in Ranchi as well besides opening a regional head office here.