Ranchi: Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that providing uninterrupted power supply to the people of Jharkhand is a priority for his government. Chairing a high level review meeting over the works of Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam
Limited he directed the officers that there should be a ban on power cuts in the state under any circumstances. He asked them to take all necessary measures to prevent power cuts. Providing uninterrupted power to the people of the state is the priority of the state government he said.
The Chief Minister told the officials that complaints of power cuts were being received for the last few weeks. Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited is an important entity in the power sector in the state. It is through this that electricity is supplied to the entire state therefore Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited should fix the system by preparing a better action plan for providing smooth electricity to
the consumers.
It was decided in the meeting that the Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited will be provided Rs 750 crore from Power Finance Corporation (PFC) on the guarantee of the state government to for payment
of dues of power generating companies. The Chief Minister directed the officials that the process of providing loan to the Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited should be completed soon so that the dues of power generating companies could be cleared.
Chief Minister instructed the officials that there should not be any laxity in the collection of electricity bills. He asked them to ensure use of modern equipments for electricity bill collection. It was also ecided in the meeting that the Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited will now collect electricity bills through the agencies working in the Urban Development Department on the basis of the house tax collection system of the Urban Development Department, for this an action plan will be prepared soon.
Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited will ensure the work on the model and conditions of the Urban Development Department to collect electricity bills in the urban areas of the entire state so that there is no loss in energy revenue to the state government. The Chief Minister directed the officials to continuously monitor electricity consumption by installing communication equipment in the meters of high tension (HT) consumers for electricity bill recovery. The Chief Minister said that 100 percent electricity bill recovery should be ensured from the consumers.
It is their responsibility that HT consumers do not have outstanding electricity bills. The Chief Minister asked to complete the billing process on all telecom towers and collected the electricity bills on time. He directed the officials to speed up the smart meter work. The Chief Minister said that it should be ensured that smart meters are installed at all the consumers. He also gave his consent to provide Rs 200 crore to Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited under Annual Development Plan (ADP) head by the state government.
The amount of Rs 200 crore received from the ADP item will be spent by Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited to strengthen the arrangements of transformers, poles, wires etc in the state. State Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Rajeev Arun Ekka, Principal Secretary Energy Department Avinash Kumar, Principal Secretary Finance Department Ajay Kumar Singh, Secretary to Chief Minister Vinay Kumar Choubey, Jharkhand Energy Transmission Corporation Managing Director KK Verma and other senior officials were present in the meeting.