Bihar turns around, now 6th on power sector development:Sushil

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi Friday said the state has turned around in the power sector and now in the sixth position in a ranking by the NITI Aayog.

After electrifying the state's all the 1.6 lakh villages and hamlets, the state government has been able to make power connections available to 1.39 crore households, Modi said.

In 2005, when the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government took reins of the state for the first time, only 24 lakh households had power connections, he added.

"Till a few years ago, Bihar was at the bottom in the development and growth of power sector but the state has ranked sixth among states in the overall development of power sector. The ranking among states was carried out by NITI Aayog vis-a-vis their performance in power sector," Modi said.

He was addressing a gathering while inaugurating a four-day 'Electric Trade Show' organised by the Bihar Electric Traders Association here.

The peak hour power demand has gone upto 5,139 MW from 700-900 MW in 2005, he said adding that the state's power distribution capacity has been augmented to 10,000 MW.

The government has already decided to replace all the dilapidated wires across the state by the end of December this year, Modi said and added that separate power feeders would be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 6,000 crore sanctioned by the Centre.

The move would ensure at least 6-8 hours of power supply to farmers for irrigation purposes which would further help them in reducing their cost incurred on irrigation by diesel pump sets, said Modi who also holds finance portfolio.

A total of Rs 55,000 crore has been spent for the development of power sector in the state in the past five years, he said adding that Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) loss was 42 per cent in 2016-17 which reduced to 34 per cent in 2017-18 and is expected to be 28 per cent in 2018-19.

The efforts and steps are being taken to reduce the AT&C losses further, he said.