Power crisis worsens

Power crisis worsens
Bangalore, DH News Service:
According to statistics provided by Energy Minister K S Eshwarappa on Monday, the State is presently facing a shortage of nine million units (mu) of power per day.

Students preparing for examinations in the State may have to rely on candle light in the coming days, as the power supply crisis is deepening day by day.

According to statistics provided by Energy Minister K S Eshwarappa on Monday, the State is presently facing a shortage of nine million units (mu) of power per day. While the present demand is 142 mu, the supply is only 133 mu. And the situation will worsen in the coming days, as the demand will go up in April and May.

Official sources said the total power availability per day was much less than what the minister had claimed. The State now has just around 110 mu of power for supply. This was the reason why the power utility had been forced to resort to unscheduled load-shedding, sources said.

While the Bangaloreans are experiencing two hours of unscheduled load-shedding in the morning and evening peak hours, rural Karnataka has no power for nearly 12 hours a day. In other cities, except Bangalore, unscheduled load-shedding ranges from four to five hours. However, Eshwarappa is not ready to admit it, lest it should affect his party’s poll prospects. Instead, he chose to play safe, saying: “There has been only interruptions in supply. And the government is making all efforts to solve the problem.”

Increasing demand

He further said the present crisis was due to the increasing demand. “In the previous years, the maximum demand for power in March used to be around 120 mu per day.

Nobody expected that the demand would go up to 142 mu. This is happening for the first time. So far, we have succeeded in fulfilling the demand up to 133 mu,” he explained.

The State government has held talks with the Gujarat government to purchase 100 mu. The supply is expected from Tuesday.

The Chhattisgarh-based Lanco Infratech Ltd has agreed to provide 200 mw in April and May. The second unit of Jindal Power Ltd will be generating 200 mw of power by the end of March. The company has agreed to supply power to the State. Besides, the energy department has decided to harness more power from hydro-electric power stations to meet the growing demand.

Earlier, it was decided to limit the total power generation in hydro-electric power stations up to 32 mu. The decision was taken to store more water to meet the demand for power in May and June. Now, the generation has been increased to 40 mu.

Eshwarappa said the government had spent Rs 1,335 crore to purchase power in the last two months. If necessary, the government was ready to spend more in the next two months.