Senior General Manager Sushil Kumar Arjariya said the plant had to be shut because ash removal from the ash pond had been stalled for nearly four months.
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The Bokaro Thermal Power Station (BTPS) was shut down around 1.30 am, halting the generation of 500 MW of electricity and causing an estimated daily loss of about Rs 5.71 crore to the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC). With production suspended, DVC will have to buy power from the market to maintain supply to its consumers in Jharkhand, Punjab, Delhi, and other states, further adding to its financial pressure.
Senior General Manager Sushil Kumar Arjariya said the plant had to be shut because ash removal from the ash pond had been stalled for nearly four months. The pond had reached maximum capacity and was at risk of breaching, making continued operation unsafe.
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He said uninterrupted production benefits everyone associated with the plant and sought cooperation from local stakeholders.
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Ash transportation has remained suspended since July 15 after workers stopped operations while demanding payment of pending wages and other dues. The backlog pushed the ash pond to a critical point, forcing the shutdown. A tripartite meeting called on 30 October could not progress as the transporter did not attend, and despite an agreement reached in a follow-up meeting on 1 November, transportation work still did not resume.
Bokaro Deputy Commissioner Ajay Nath Jha said the situation reflects a clear coordination and communication gap between the DVC management and its workers and local vendors, which allowed the crisis to escalate.
Bermo SDO Mukesh Machhua said the technical problem arose because ash movement had been stalled for months. He added that talks with workers’ unions have now resolved the issue and ash removal has restarted. According to him, the process to restore power generation at BTPS will begin soon.
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