DVC should not threaten to curtail electricity supply: Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren to power minister

RANCHI: Chief minister Hemant Soren on Friday sought Union power minister Rajkumar Singh’s intervention to soften the stance of Damodar Valley Corporation over its outstanding dues from Jharkhand government. Hemant, in a virtual meeting with Singh and the power ministers from other states, asked the Union minister to ensure that DVC does not threaten to curtail its power supply over non-payment of outstanding dues.
“The DVC has threatened to curtail its power supply again, despite the fact the its outstanding power bills up to March (2020) have been paid. The outstanding dues have been left behind by the previous government,” Hemant said in the meeting. “The Union government must direct the DVC that it should not curtail power supply to Jharkhand. The state government will clear its dues on the basis of the electricity consumed,” he added.
The DVC, which supplies power to seven districts of Jharkhand, threatened to curtail power supply by 50% since July 1 if its outstanding dues were not cleared. However, the PSU softened its stance after JBVNL MD Rajiv Arun Ekka wrote to DVC chairman, urging not to curtail the supply.
There are 10 lakh consumers under DVC’s command area, which comprises Dhanbad, Bokaro, Giridih, Koderma, Chatra, Hazaribag and Ramgarh, including several industrial units. DVC had curtailed power supply for days earlier this year after it gave the JMM-led government an ultimatum, asking it to clear the outstanding amount of Rs 5,670 crore.
State energy department had written to the Union power ministry and flagged the poor revenue collection owing to the lockdown. The Jharkhand Urja Sancharan Nigam Limited has also written to the Union government urging it to write off a portion of the state’s dues to the DVC, sources said. The monthly revenue collection of the state-run discom JBVNL (Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited) is around Rs 350 crore. However, with the lockdown, the collection has dropped to Rs 120 crore, officials said on anonymity.
Meanwhile, in the meeting, which was held to seek suggestions on the draft of the Centre’s new Electricity Amendment Bill 2020, Hemant objected to the proposal to form a central regulatory commission. “This will curb the states’ jurisdictions,” he said in the meeting. The CM also recommended that subsidy provision for consumers must be kept intact.