Govt asks centre for more power to tackle shortage

With the state facing acute shortage of power, Karnataka government on Friday urged the Centre to ensure adequate coal supply to its thermal power plant at Raichur and allot 500 Mw from the unal-located share of central generating stations to over-come the crisis.

Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda in a letter to Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the state was going through a dry spell leading to a high demand for electricity.

“We are making efforts to buy power from outside, but the rates are high and there are also problems of congestion in the transmission corridors. In view of the serious problem facing the state, I request you to allot us 500 Mw from the unallocated share of Central Generating Station”. In another letter to Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, Gowda urged him to direct Coal India to supply 10,000 tonnes of coal daily additionally from Western Coalfields (WCL) and Mahanandi Coalfields to Karnataka Power Corporation to run eight units of thermal power at Raichur Plant.

Due to Telangana stir, coal supply to Raichur Thermal units from Singareni Collieries has completely stop-ped and the coal being received from WCL and Mahanadi is inadequate to run all the units. At present power was generated by only five units and sometimes four units, Gowda said.