A Calcutta-based company will complete the state power board’s electrification work in Jamshedpur circle that IL&FS left unfinished following a financial crisis in the infrastructure behemoth.

Kei Industries Ltd has bagged a Rs 425-crore tender for laying underground cable and setting up power substation in Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam’s (JBVNL) Jamshedpur circle comprising Jamshedpur, Ghatshila and parts of Seraikela.

“Under the earlier contract worth Rs 227 crore, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services’s (IL&FS) work was confined to Adityapur industrial area and parts of the urban area. Under the fresh tender, Kei Industries will have to work in Adityapur industrial area and the entire urban area, including Ghatshila,” JBVNL general manager-cum-chief engineer Arvind Kumar told The Telegraph.

Kumar said the Kei Industries would have to set up over two dozen sub-stations in Jamshedpur circle area. However, the company hasn’t been given a work order yet.

He said JBVNL would have to estimate the job done by IL&FS, which suspended work in January, before issuing work order to the Calcutta-based company.

“The areas where IL&FS has conducted underground cable laying work will be excluded from the work ambit of Kei Industries and the tender amount will be reduced accordingly,” the JBVNL general manager said.

Kumar said Kei Industries was expected to complete the project within two years.

Once laying of underground cable is completed, supply of electricity in Adityapur industrial area and the urban residential area is likely to improve significantly.

“People living in JBVNL command area have to suffer from power tripping during storms. A section of the residents also tend to illegally tap power from overhead cables. However, once work on underground cable laying is complete, consumers will enjoy its manifold benefits,” Kumar said.

The financial crisis that gripped IL&FS last year also impacted the electrification project in JBVNL’s Jamshedpur circle.

IL&FS had bagged the Rs 227-crore tender in August 2017 and had started work from January 2018. However, the agency began suspending work from September last year and left the electrification project midway in January this year.