In this paper, an efficient method has been proposed for transmission line over load alleviation in deregulated power system. Here the generators are selected based on their sensitivity to the congested line and the active power of the participating generators is rescheduled using Bacterial Swarming Algorithm (BSA) for relieving congestion. The algorithm is tested in IEEE 30-bus system and compared with the particle swarm optimization for its effectiveness and robustness in congestion management. It is observed that BSA algorithm minimizes the cost effectively when compared to the particle swarm optimization (PSO). © 2015 Research India Publications.