Chhattisgarh Unlikely To Have Power Crisis

The newly created state Chhattisgarh will face no power crisis if it has a separate electricity board. Presently the state has no electricity board since the dismantling of Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board has been put on hold for another year.

Some of the Chhatisgarh MLAs demanded a separate electricity board and submitted a memorandum to the energy secretary in Bhopal before the creation of Chhattisgarh.

The Madhya Pradesh government had on Tuesday declared a power cut for 2 hours regularly for an indefinite period in almost all the regions in Chhattisgarh except in the cities of Raipur and Bilaspur.

Talking to Business Standard Energy Secretary K Shankarnarayan confirmed the demand of the Chhattisgarh MLAs and said, the newly created state would be a power plus state.

He corroborated his statement by stating facts like, "total power generation at Chhattisgarh is 1,460 MW against the demand of 1,700 MW. Moreover the state would be included in eastern grid of National Thermal Power Corporation, which will cater to the additional need and hence there will be no power crisis in the state."

On being asked about the sharing of private power projects, he said, "there is no doubt that the state of Chhattisgarh will have some prestigious private power projects. Out of seven private power projects, Chhattisgarh will have five private power projects like Daewoo Power project with a proposed capacity of 2X535 MW. Another proposed power project Eastern Korba Power project' could be a major loss to Madhya Pradesh if the dismantling of the MPEB takes place."

He added, "It would not be premature to comment on the proposed private power projects. I can say the state of Chhattisgarh will have sufficient power generation capacity."

The state of Chhattisgarh produces 34.60 per cent of the total power generated, against the total consumption of 21.71 per cent. Out of total revenue of Rs 425 crore, Chhattisgarh generates 40 per cent of the total revenue, which amounts to Rs 162 crore.