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Coal, cash crises plague DVC

It is likely that parts of Jharkhand and West Bengal will soon plunge into darkness with one of the major power producers of Eastern India, Damodar Valley Corporation, being hit by coal and financial crisis.

If a letter sent to Jharkhand government's chief secretary Sajal Chakrabarty by additional secretary of Union ministry of power, RN Choubey is anything to go by, Jharkhand has to pay Rs.1000 crore immediately against the outstanding bill of Rs.7500 crore to enjoy uninterrupted power supply for now.

The letter of the union ministry of power clearly mentions that DVC is unable to clear the dues it woes to the coal companies and the burden is as high as Rs1400crore.

The letter further says that because of introduction of 'cash-and- carry' system by the coal companies DVC requires at least Rs 1000 crore from Jharkhand government to carry on with power generation.

Responding to the letter, Jharkhand energy minister Rajendra Prasad Singh convened several round of meetings with DVC officials in Maithon on Wednesday and agreed to make immediate payment of Rs 155 crore to DVC for now.

"We are going to pay Rs 155 crore as one of the instalments and I have already communicated with Coal India limited to ensure that coal supply to the DVC units is not restricted," he said.

DVC has already curtailed supply to Bokaro Steel Plant and as against the usual supply of 200MWs it is now providing 140MWs.

DVC has six coal-based thermal power plants — Bokaro Thermal Power Station, Chandrapura Thermal Power Station, Koderma Thermal Power Station, Durgapur Thermal Power Station, Durgapur Steel Thermal Power Station and Mejia Thermal Power Station. Of that, three are in Jharkhand. They are facing acute crisis of coal. Majority of DVC units have utilised its coal stock in the last few days. They are running on carpet coal (supply stacked for emergency). The coal crisis has decline power production to about 2100 MW against its normal generation of 3500MW.

Chief engineer of CTPS, B N Singh said the situation is a critical one. To make things worse, the company is facing acute financial crunch as time and again JSEB has failed to clear its long pending dues. "We are passing through a bad phase".

The situation is also alarming for BTPS, another DVC unit, as one of its three units has been closed for want of coal. Chief engineer of BTPS, J P Singh said their present stock can help them generate power for another two days.

"If the situation continues to persist, other units will also shut shops very soon," he said.

Further, the closure of DVC units will deepen power crisis in Bokaro township and its adjacent areas thereby leading to heavy monetary losses. DVC supplies power to Bokaro Steel, Electrosteel and three coal companies — CCL, BCCL and ECL in the state.

Source: The Times of India