Govt moves to ease power, water woes

Karnataka government has decided to purchase 750 Mw from private power generation companies, Minister for Energy Shobha Karandlaje said on Tuesday. Tenders would be issued soon inviting private companies to supply power to the state grid, she told reporters here. The power supply situation would be grim if the state did not get bountyful spells of rains in the remaining days of the monsoon, Karandlaje said.

Linganamakki hydel reservoir at present has of about 30 tmcft compared to the storage level of 80 tmcft during the corresponding period of last year. Presently, hydel plants generate 2500 Mw daily. The demand for power has increased by about 24 per cent compared to the previous year. She said the second unit of the Bellary Thermal Power Station is expected to commence full-fledged generation from January. “The plant has already commenced power generation and full capacity will be utilised only after production is stabilised which will require at least three months,” she said. Meanwhile, Minister for Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) S Suresh Kumar, who also holds the urban development and law and parliamentary affairs portfolios, told reporters that all newly-added urban localities of the Bangalore City Corporation would get regular drinking water supply under the second stage of the fourth phase of the Cauvery project from September-end, adding that about 200,000 households would get water connections.

A decision had been taken not to levy road cutting fee on households seeking water connections in the newly-added wards of the corporation, he said. The greater Bangalore was created in 2007 by merging seven city municipal councils, one town municipal councils and 110 villages with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). He said residents of newly-added urban areas to the BBMP, except 110 villages, would get 500 million litres per day (MLD) of Cauvery water from September-end.