Nitish: either power or else… Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has promised that all villages in the state would get electricity by the end of 2015, failing which he would quit politics. At the Independence Day celebrations programme at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna on Wednesday, Nitish said he will fully focus on power sector and if he fails to provide power in the villages within the next three years, he would not come seeking votes in the 2015 Assembly elections. Earlier, in the 2005 Assembly elections, the JD-U strongman had promised to improve law and order in the... 

‘Bihar to be power surplus by 2016-17′: but how well are we managing it today?   Patna: if Bihar is changing, it must reflect in the daily lives of the common people and there should be no need to remind them time and again that indeed things have changed. The present power management in the state, despite attempts at computerization etc has caused much hardship among the consumers by hiking rates frequently. If indeed, the personnel at BSEB are not able to efficiently handle problems today, one may only wonder how they will respond to the big changes in the offing announced... 

BSEB to be restructured: generation, transmission and distribution by three independent companies Patna: in a highly significant move, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced today that in order to attract private investment in the power sector, the state government will soon restructure the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB). However, he the power board officials that their service condition will not be affected by the restructuring. This was announced at the end of a day long conference on ‘Powering Bihar’. ‘It is a matter of few days before the much-awaited restructuring of the BSEB... 

Now Bihar likely to get 200-300 MW power from the open market for the festival season [Sep- Nov] Patna: after some tense days of waiting, a number of companies finally responded to the government tender for the supply of additional 300 MW of electricity for the period September – November this year. This move was meant to be a temporary solution to the power shortfall that may dampen the festive season. The Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) is thus quite likely now to sign an agreement to purchase about 300MW of power from the open market to supply electricity from September to November.... 

Bihar’s power woes: enough of promises, the public wants to see the roadmap and schedules now! Patna: the latest statement from Energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav aims to assure that the worst in power sector in Bihar was over and from 2012 things would look up. But this is a claim to be substantiated and not to be taken as face value. Especially so since the minister in his assembly speech also told the members ‘Power sector is not an area where you get immediate results. But from the next year the efforts made by us would begin to show’. The energy minister forgot to mention another... 

After husk power, it’s time for Makai [maize] power in Bihar! New Delhi: according to a recent report, with rice husk already in use in many projects for electricity generation, it may now be the turn for corn cobs and stalks. By the end of August this year the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) is planning to start a few gasifier systems for electricity generation in the corn belts of Bihar. The technology used would be similar to the one used for rice husk in parts of West Champaran by Gyanesh Pandey. These projects would be highly useful for making up for power deficit for...