BENGALURU: Power minister D K Shivakumar has yet again claimed that there will be no dark days this summer. While replying in the Legislative Council on Tuesday, the minister said they are ready to meet the demand, and there will be no power shortage even during the summer.
Shivakumar, however, said reservoirs and dams in the state were filled only 60 per cent this year despite good rainfall. The thermal power plants are also facing coal supply shortage. Many of the units are getting only 25 per cent coal supply.
“Earlier, coal block was allotted to Karnataka, but the matter is still in the Court. We were given another block at Deocha-Pachami in West Bengal along with five other states. But it was also cancelled,’’ he said.
Further, the minister said that he along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met Union Power Minister R K singh in this regard. “Our efforts to meet Coal minister Piyush Goyal went in vain. With no or less coal supply, we cannot stop running our thermal power plants for long. Summer is approaching, and we need water for consumption as well as agricultural purposes.
We will manage this summer,’’ he added. On one of the recent days, power consumption touched 10,347 MW. There is a huge demand for power supply. “We have purchased 900 MW from private for Rs 4.8 per unit. This apart, recently 2000 MW (solar ) and 600 MW (wind) were added to the grid. By March, another 800 MW and 600 MW power generated through solar and wind will be added,” he said. “We are committed to supply continuous power for seven hours to farmers, and industrialists and 2.5 crore customers will also get the power supply as assured,’’ he added.
Coal from Indonesia?
To meet the coal demand at the state-owned thermal power plants, the state government is now planning to buy coal from outside the country. “We have called for tenders from outside India, and the order will be given within 10 days for coal purchase,’’ the minister said. Official sources confirm that coal will come from Indonesia.
Source: newindianexpress
