Ranchi: Three successive bandhs in the last seven days have pushed Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Ltd (TVNL), the major thermal power generating unit of the state, on the brink of a disaster. The BJP-sponsored two- hour Bharat bandh on August 13, CPI(Maoists) sponsored Jharkhand bandh on August 19 and the bandh call of the Left parties today have adversely affected the coal supply to the company. "Coal reserves have touched an all-time low at 20,000 tonnes that will last only for the next four days. Transportation of coal from the collieries has remained disrupted due to frequent bandhs. We have been forced to cut down on generation to conserve coal stocks,' TVNL general manager S.P. Choudhury told The Telegraph. TVNL, which has two units with an installed capacity of 440 MW has already shut down one of its units due to falling coal stocks. However, the frequent bandhs being enforced by various political parties have added to the crisis by disrupting transportation of coal from the various collieries of Central Coalfields Ltd to the TVNL plant at Lalpania in Bokaro district. Today, generation at TVNL was forced to be scaled down to 175 MW against its normal production of 200 MW from one of its units. The plant would remain under-utilised till fresh coal stocks finally arrive, the TVNL general manager said. Figures released by the central load despatch centre revealed that total production from the state's two thermal power plants at Tenughat and Patratu aggregated 310 MW against a peak time demand of 850 MW. A portion of the shortfall was overcomed by drawing around 240 MW from the eastern grid today. Even after drawing from outside sources, the net power shortfall today touched 300 MW leaving Jharkhand State Electricity Board to force blackouts throughout the state in phases. Meanwhile, to ensure that TVNL is not forced to shut down, the state government has now enhanced the financial power of the TVNL general manager from the present Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. The decision to raise the limits was taken keeping in view the fact that TVNL was operating without a chairman and the political status of the state made it difficult to appoint one. The power utility has remained without a chairman and a managing director to head its affairs since June 18. A Patna High Court directive granting ownership rights over TVNL to Bihar, which was later stayed by the Supreme Court, and the withdrawal of support from the UPA government by JMM have further added to the prevailing chaos in the company.