Power supply to seven Jharkhand districts falling in the command area of the Damodar Valley Corporation became normal on Saturday after the region faced prolonged power cuts for over two and a half months.

The development came after the DVC withdrew regulation of power (read prolonged outage) to the Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL) that buys power from the DVC for supplying to those seven districts that became effective from midnight of January 28-29.

The DVC had imposed power cuts for up to 12 hours every day in those seven districts — Dhanbad, Bokaro, Ramgarh, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Giridih and Koderma — since early November as its arrear dues from the state-run JBVNL was not fully cleared.

The consumers who were at receiving end complained that they were made to suffer though they paid electricity bills to the JBVNL on time, adding they should not be put to trouble for unresolved issues between two government entities.

Business communities also joined ordinary consumers, complaining their businesses were also badly affected and appealed to some leaders who also sympathised with them.

Finally, a high level meeting was organised in Ranchi on January 28 that was attended by top officials of the state government, the DVC and the JBVNL. The DVC announced it would withdraw regulation of power to the JBVNL.

“... it has been discussed that the DVC’s request for monthly payment in full and roadmap for liquidation of outstanding dues would be placed before the government of Jharkhand on 1-2-2022 for action,” DVC chief engineer Debashis Dey informed the JBVNL in a letter the same day, adding the regulation would be withdrawn from zero hour of January 29.

“It’s a relief,” said Prabhat Surolia, the president of Bank More Chamber of Commerce in Dhanbad, adding they faced power cuts for a very short duration on Saturday “that was due to some local fault which was rectified almost immediately”.

All are, however, not equally impressed.

“We in Giridih suffered power cuts for over two hours on Saturday, due to faults in power supply line,” said Nirmal Jhunjhunwala, the coal belt regional vice-president of Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries, the apex trade body of the state.

“The JBVNL would earlier pass on the blame on the DVC but now their own shortcomings are coming to the fore,” he further said, adding the distribution company must look into the interest of the consumers.