54% electricity stolen or lost in Bihar: Piyush Goyal

Bihar's demand for electricity was assessed at 2,994 MW

Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said a whopping 54 per cent electricity was either "stolen or lost" in Bihar, which "doesn't produce a single unit from its own power stations."

"It is a shameful thing that Bihar doesn't produce a single unit from its own power stations. All the power here is supplied by the Centre or other states. Whatever power plants are here are so old that they have become unworkable. Altogether 54 per cent electricity supplied here is either stolen or lost," Goyal said.

"The honest public has to pay for the electricity theft and losses in the form of inflated bills handed over to them," he said.

Goyal said the state government recovered the whopping electricity losses from the honest, bill paying customers.

The Union minister was speaking on the occasion of signing of a MoU between NTPC, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) to train 25,000 youths in services and manufacturing sectors over the next five years.

Goyal pointed out that Bihar's demand for electricity was assessed at 2,994 MW, low even in comparison to Delhi which was just a city, but had a demand for 5,800 to 6,000 MW.

"The per capita electricity consumption in Bihar is just 160 units per year, which is very low even in comparison to the national average, which was 1,000 units per year. There are no industries here. There are places where electricity hasn't reached and if it has reached it doesn't stay," he said.

Goyal and Union Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy also pointed at the lack of development in the state and exhorted the people to be the part of a change.

The statistics provided by Goyal punched holes into the claims of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that ample electricity was being supplied to all villages and efforts were on to provide it round-the-clock.

In 2012, Kumar had said he would not seek votes in the Assembly polls if he failed to supply power to all villages in the state.