The Jharkhand state assembly has passed a unanimous resolution demanding that DVC's headquarters in Kolkata be shifted to the state's capital Ranchi. This populist move seems to be a direct threat to DVC, whose chairman, JC Jettley, has rejected the demand outright.

A second threat has come from another stake-holder - the West Bengal State Electricity Board Workmen's Union, affiliated to CPI(M)'s trade union wing, Citu, has demanded that WBSEB take up the responsibility of supplying power to parts of Burdwan, Hooghly, Howrah and Midnapore districts from DVC.

Considering that CPI(M) is a major partner in the Left Front government in West Bengal, the union's demand seems to have a different connotation. It says people of these areas have been suffering from frequent power cuts, low voltage and low frequency and holds DVC responsible for that.

Surprisingly, the DVC chairman is tight-lipped about the demand made by the union. DVC insiders, however, are wondering how a WBSEB union can interfere in their affairs. They feel that occasional briefing to newspapers either by the West Bengal power department or by WBSEB or its union regarding erratic power supply by DVC are aimed at confusing the people regarding the quality and reliability of supply from DVC. Despite all this, DVC, which has 2,761.5 mw thermal and hydel power generating capacity, can boast of maintaining stable power supply.

Even veteran trade union leaders, including those from the Left outfits, feel that the WBSEB union's demand is ridiculous. "When WBSEB is incapable of taking over even the outside valley loads, the demand for encroaching upon DVC's command area seems to be aimed at diverting public attention from the poor state of infrastructure facilities, like power. They would do well to concentrate on supplying power to the vast areas of the state," a veteran DVC union leader said.

Out of 89,000 sq. km area of West Bengal, the DVC operates only within 4,000 sq. km and mainly supplies power to core sector consumers, like the railways, coal and steel companies. However, as per the DVC Act 18(III), the power utility extended its transmission network between Burdwan to towns in Kharagpur, covering the districts of Burdwan, Hooghly, Howrah and Midnapore.

All this was done with permission from the West Bengal government, between 1950-54, as the WBSEB was not strong enough to taken on the job then. DVC had invested huge capital for construction of sub-stations and transmission lines. The purpose was to sell energy directly to consumers. However, distribution below 33kv was given to Dishergarh Power Supply Co for Asansol and for the Howrah industrial area to CESC as licensee.

This extension of DVC's supply area has helped West Bengal grow agriculturally, industrially and commercially. Despite the capacity addition in West Bengal during the Eighth and Ninth Plan, the WBSEB, through its own network, could not relieve DVC from meeting the soaring demand.

The Citu has perhaps forgotten this fact. In 1971, the WBSEB took over the load from DVC following commissioning of the Bandel thermal power station (82.5mw x 4 + 210 mw) in Hooghly district. But it had to return that load to DVC in 1987 due to non-availability of proper transmission, distribution and sub-distribution network of WBSEB in that district.

DVC has been insisting for quite some time that the WBSEB should either take over the load to meet the demand from its own installations considering 1980 as the cut-off date or permit DVC to invest further for augmentation of sub-stations and sell energy directly to consumers.

Many believe that Citu's demand at this juncture has been used to divert people's attention from WBSEB's inability to pay outstanding dues to DVC, which has already touched a record Rs 800 crore. There are allegations that the power bill of the Railways, which is realised through WBSEB, is not being passed on to DVC on a regular basis. The monthly current bill against power supply from the DVC source to WBSEB stands at about Rs 16 crore, whereas the payment by WBSEB normally does not exceed Rs 5 crore. If these allegations are true, then it can be justifiably said that WBSEB is putting DVC through unavoidable financial crunch and indirectly jeopardising the cash flow mechanism of the company by not paying current dues and arrears.

Moreover, WBSEB draws around 200 mw to meet the demand of areas outside the valley falling in its distribution area without making any payment to DVC. The total loss incurred by WBSEB during 1992-93 to 1999-2000 stands at Rs 2,877 crore. It would have been wiser instead if the Citu had used its "strong organisation" to help chronic loss-making WBSEB earn profit, by improving the work culture, conducting meticulous meter reading and taking responsibility to combat power theft.