The spectre of prolonged power cuts in seven districts of Jharkhand from Wednesday could be averted after the state power distribution company decided to pay a part of its dues to the Damodar Valley Corporation.

“We are processing an amount of Rs 1,000 crore as part payment of the dues to DVC. We are hopeful the crisis will be averted,” Rishi Nandan, general manager (commercial), Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL), told The Telegraph on Monday afternoon.

According to sources, the JBVNL was negotiating with the DVC to convince the power generation utility not to curtail supply to the state.

“The dues couldn’t be paid as we could hardly collect bills during the lockdown,” Nandan said. We have already initiated negotiations with the DVC, he added.

This paper had reported on Saturday that DVC, which supplies around one-third of the power requirement of Jharkhand, had informed JBVNL that it would reduce power supply to the state-run distribution company as it was yet to receive an outstanding payment of over Rs 5,600 crore.

The reduced power supply would lead the residents of Dhanbad, Giridih, Bokaro, Ramgarh, Hazaribag, Chatra and Koderma districts to face prolonged power cuts for the second time in five months.

Power supply to JBVNL had been earlier regulated from February 28 to March 14 of the current year.

The DVC had reduced power supply by 50 per cent on the first day itself. Supply was decreased by 10 per cent for each additional day of non-payment, until only 10 per cent was being supplied.

The situation had resulted in prolonged power cuts in the seven districts and triggered public protests.

JBVNL had then paid Rs 400 crore as part payment of the dues amounting to Rs 4,900 crore, which has gone upto over Rs 5,600 crore at present.

JVBNL, however, contested the amount saying the DVC had made wrong calculations and the matter was pending at the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity.

Meanwhile, many parts of Jharkhand, including Dhanbad, are already facing power cuts, mostly due to technical snag caused by rains.

“We are already facing problems. This will surely turn worse if the DVC reduces power supply from July 1,” said Dhanbad resident Gitesh Kumar Pathak, who is preparing for competitive examinations.