K'taka to source 1,000 Mw from private sector

Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa today said the government would purchase 1,000 Mw of power from private power producers from the next month to ease the shortage in the state.

He told reporters here after discussions with officials of finance department on implications of introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) in the state, 500 Mw of power has already started flowing into the state from last night itself. He would again convene a meeting to review the power scenario shortly, he said.

The chief minister said the state was facing a shortage of 2,000 Mw. However, he did not elaborate as to from where the power will be purchased from and at what cost. The government would spend any amount to buy the power from the private sector. The purchase of 1,000 Mw would not be a burden on the state’s finances, he said.

During the last two years, the government added 2,552 Mw to the grid. Power generation from one unit of Raichur Thermal Power Station and (210 Mw) and synchronisation of one unit of Udupi Power Company would be done soon, he said adding this would help improve power supply in a few days.

Presently, the state is facing long hours of loadshedding owing to severe power shortage. The storage level in the three major hydel reservoirs of the state is lesser by 30 per cent when compared to the same period last year. The RTPS, the main thermal power station has been facing problems too due to old and worn out machinery. The station is generating hardly half of its installed capacity of 1,420 Mw.

Yeddyurappa said, non-Congress states, including DMK-led Tamil Nadu, have rejected the new GST system outright, and discussions on the proposal are still on. “Once the proposal gets the final shape, we will take a view,” he said.

The meeting discussed the impact of GST on state’s revenue collection and the chief minister was briefed on it.

The chief minister, who held a review meeting concerning the departments of finance and forests, issued strict instructions to the commercial taxes department to plug the leaks in revenue collection by acting firmly against “illegal activities”.

Forest department officials were told to take stern action against illegal tranportation of iron ore for export, failing which disciplinary move would be initiated against them.

Yeddyurappa denied suggestions that iron ore was now being transported illegally by railway wagons following crackdown on lorries, terming it as being far-fetched and just a fiction of imagination.