JSEB embarks on privatisation of power sector

patna: jharkhand state electricity board (jseb) has initiated measures to privatise power sector and in the first phase floated tenders for privatising distribution in five towns of the state. initially, distribution will be handed over to private parties in ranchi,jamshedpur, hazaribagh, dhanbad and deoghar who will be responsible for meter reading, meter surveillance, bill preparation and bill distribution.the jseb chairman, rajib ranjan, who is currently here, told the times news network that this move would gradually pave the way for privatisation of the entire distribution network. he said tenders for the five towns will be finalised soon. the board has also made arrangements for collection of bills through banks in these towns. in the second phase of privatisation, to be completed by january 2003, the board will provide power at various points and private parties will be given electricity for distribution and collection of revenue, he said, adding that the board will, however, continue to look after maintenance of the system. ranjan said that in the last phase of privatisation, the board will lease power generation units to private parties. the board, he said, is actively considering to allow tatas to set up and operate a generation unit of 120 mw at jojebera near jamshedpur. by the end of 2012, he claimed, the board will strengthen the entire system in such a manner that the jharkhand government will get 30 per cent of its total revenue from power sector. meanwhile, a high-level meeting is scheduled here for cadre distribution of employees between the bihar state electricity board (bseb) and the jseb. ranjan and other senior officials of the jseb will meet energy secretary of bihar a k upadhayay and bseb chairman n k agrawal to thrash out the issue. at a recent meeting of energy ministers of both the states at ranchi, it was decided in principle to give a definite shape to cadre distribution between both the boards at an early date. the bseb had reportedly agreed to hand over the services of 600 employees of various categories to the jseb. in reply to a question, rajib said that staff scarcity in all categories was hampering the functioning of the jseb. work at the jseb headquarters was being manned by only 30 to 35 staff of all categories, including 23 newly-appointed retired employees of the board, he said and hoped that a final decision on cadre distribution will be amicably taken soon. according to ranjan, the jseb is striving to bring down its transmission and distribution loss to the national target. the loss, which was initially at 51 per cent, has been brought down to 43 per cent. stringent measures are being taken to further bring down the transmission and distribution loss to 15 to 18 per cent by the end of 2002.