Yeddy announces Govt’s decision to buy 1,000 mw of power in March
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, Mar 2: Electricity consumers in power-starved Karnataka, fed up with the frequent power cuts and load sheddings almost throughout the day all over the state, can now heave a sigh of relief if chief minister B S Yeddyurappa keeps his promise of buying 1,000 mw of power from different sources this month to ease the situation.

"We are ensuring addition of 21 million units (mu) of power daily during the month of March,’’ the chief minister said.

There is more cheerful news: People in the state capital of Bangalore, which incidentally will be facing its long-delayed election to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) by the end of this month as per the Karnataka high court’s latest orders, can expect continuous power almost throughout the day. Yes, the chief minister said Bangaloreans will get power uninterrupted power supply for 23 hours.

However, the electricity consumers in all other urban centres – city municipalities/towns—will get 21 hours of power in a day. But the rural people, especially the farmers, will have to be content with a minimum 6 hours of 3-phase power and 6 hours of single phase power, which inter-alia implies that they will have to do without power for 12 hours or half the day. The only saving grace for rural energy consumers, especially students preparing for their examinations is the chief minister’s promise to ensure single phase power from 7 to 11 pm daily.

This is the arrangement regarding power supply during the month of March with immediate effect, Yeddyurappa said while replying to a lengthy debate on the chronic power situation in the state in the Karnataka legislative assembly on Tuesday.

To meet the growing energy demand as the summer hots up, the chief minister said the government has decided to float a short-term tender for the purchase of 750 mw of power for the five-month period from April to August and indicated that the tenders will be opened on Friday, the day Karnataka’s annual budget proposals for the year 2010-11 are to be presented in the state legislature.

The decision to purchase 1,000 mw of power during this month was not motivated to ``win over the electorate of Bangalore during the forthcoming BBMP polls,’’ the chief minister said pointing out that, ``elections come and go and the government has to discharge its duties.” The government had purchased 400 mw of power during the month of February, which greatly helped in minimizing the burden and inconvenience to the people, the chief minister said.

`It is not correct to attribute political motives to every decision taken by the government as no government can function or fulfill its duties,”  he said, explaining that the 1,000 mw of power is being purchased from Jindal power - 200 mw at Rs 4.50 per unit, Power Trading Corporation (PTC)  450 mw at Rs 4.74 and Rs 5.25 per unit,  100 mw on barter basis and another 250 mw at Rs 4.75 per unit from National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

The chief minister, who has retained the energy portfolio with him after the resignation of K S Eshwarappa to take over the state BJP presidentship recently, gave a detailed account of the state’s precarious power situation. The state suffered an energy shortfall of 14% with the total demand at 37,625 mu and availability of 33,110 mu during 2004-05. The demand went up to 47,124 mu against an availability of 42,199 mu or shortfall of 10.45% in 2008-09 and to an all time high of 51,019 mu and 44,549 mu respectively accounting for a shortfall of 12.68% during 2009-10, he said pointing out thast the annual demand registered an increase of 35.59% from 2004-05 to 2009-10.

He also pointed out that the supply of power from the Central grid came down from 8,645 mu in 2007-08 to 7,981 mu in 2009-10 and the Centre had not responded to the request from the state gov ernment to set right this disparity.

The state faced a shortage of 2,000 mu during 2008-09 and the government had manage the situation by purchasing high cost energy  an outlay of Rs 2,000 crore, he said.

Responding to Congress opposition leader Siddaramaiah’s criticism that there was not even a single mega watt of additional power generation during the last 20 months of BJP rule, Yeddyurappa said 1,252 mw of additional power was generated during 2008-09 by expediting various power projects. This included 230 mw from Varahi, 500 mw from Bellary thermal plant and 522 mw from renewable sources of energy, which was highest addition to the generating capacity in a single year so far.

In addition, 700 mw of additional power is being generated this year too, he said pointing out that 250 mw from Raichur thermal power station’s unit 8 and another 600 mw from renewable sources of energy were included.  The Nagarjuna thermal power station of 1200 mw was nearing completion and additional power was expected to be added to the state grid by June, he said patting the government on the back.

"Though previous governments had signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) wigth private companies for generation of 34 mu of power from 1990 to 2006, majority of the projects barring a few had not materialized,’’ Yeddyurappa said pointing out that the BJP government had granted approvals to five power generation projects.

Of the five approved projects, as many as three – the 1600 mw thermal plant at Yermaras near Raichur at a cost of Rs 9,000 crore,  800 mw thermal plant at Yedlapur near Raichur thermal power station at a cost of Rs 4,800 crore and Bellary thermal power station’s 600 mw third unit at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore – are expected to be completed in the next three to four and half years. The gas based 1,400 mw Bidadi power station at a cost of Rs 3,500 crore and the Rs 9,000 crore pit-head thermal power station in Chattisgarh is expected to begin the tendering process by June.

"The state will be able to add 5,900 mw of additional power to the state grid in the next three to four and half years and the availability of power will be increased by 109 mu daily,”  he said pointing out that the state will get 6,650 mw of power from Bellary thermal plant’s second unit this month and Raichur thermal plant’s unit 8 next year increasing the daily power supply by 125 mu. ``With the addition of 2,000 mw of power generating capacity, the shortage of power will be a thing of the past and Karnataka will be able to sell surplus power,’’ Yeddyurappa claimed.

The chief minister said the government had released Rs 500 crore as share capital to the state-owned Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd (KPCL) for the first time in the last 20 years. Having raised Rs 2,600 crore from banks without any guarantee from the government, the KPCL is planning to raise a massive Rs 25,000 crore from the market to fund its new projects including entering into joint collaboration with companies like L&T and BHEL with greater technical expertise and experience in the field.

Answering allegations from JD(S) leader H D Revanna, who had served as energy minister in the Dharam Singh led Congress-JD(S) and H D Kumaraswamy-led JD(S)-BJP coalition governments regarding irregularities in the purchase of coal, the chief minister said the government had instituted a judicial inquiry headed by retired higch court udge Mohan Kumar. Claiming that Revanna’s allegations were totally baseless, Yeddyurappa said the tenure of Revanna himself was known for irregularities with a company owned by JD(S) Rajya Sabha member from Chennai M A M Ramaswamy had been favoured and the KPCL had suffered crores of rupees losses. ``Let the judicial inquiry report come out and truth will emerge,’’ Yeddyurappa said.

However, Revanna’s demand for a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the coal purchases by Yeddyurappa was rejected by the chief minister even though Congress party also lent its support. The Congress members led by Siddaramaiah staged a walk-out protesting against the government’s failure to tackle the power situation. Even as Revanna and JD(S) members insisted on substantiating their allegations against the chief minister, assembly speaker K G Bopaiah abruptly adjourned the house evoking sharp protests from JD(S) members.