Damaged transformers keep Jharkhand in darkness

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das claims he would ensure power supply to every village in coming years but many parts of the state remain in darkness due to transmission loss and damaged transformers.

According to sources in the electricity department, more than 5,000 transformers in the state are damaged.

"There are many places in the state where 25 kv to 63 Kv transformers have been installed, but the actual capacity needed was at least 100 Kv. The transformers could not bear the load and more than 5,000 transformers got damaged," an official of the electricity department told IANS on Wednesday.

In a move to improve the power scenario, the Jharkhand government on Wednesday launched Jyoti Mission 2016 to replace damaged and burnt out transformers.

The state has launched the programme to change the transformers but it faces some bottlenecks.

"The bottleneck is, at present, the electricity department does not have the stock to replace all damaged transformers. More than 5,200 transformers are damaged and we have hardly 25 per cent stock of the total requirement," the official said.

"It many take one or two years to replace all the damaged and burnt transformers. The second issue is the capacity of transformers," he added.

The official suspects that the new transformers will also get damaged as majority of the them would not be able bear the excess power load.

The total expenditure on replacing 5,000 transformers would be around Rs 400 crore.

The second major reason is loss of power during transmission.

"Jharkhand faces huge financial and electricity loss due to transmission loss. In Jharkhand, transmission loss is 32.49 per cent compared to 12.58 per cent in Karnataka and 16 per cent in Tamil Nadu. There are at least 20 states in the country where transmission loss is less than 22 per cent," said an official who looks after transmission-related matters.

"It not only causes loss to the state coffer but also affects power supply," the official said.

--IANS

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