M'rashtra mulls ways to ease power situation

Expressing concern over the deteriorating power situation in the Maharashtra, governor S M Krishna said the state government has taken a time-bound programme to add 10,000 Mw of generation capacity to mitigate the power shortage of nearly 5500 Mw during peak hours.

An additional power of 2300 Mw is expected to be available during the forthcoming financial year from central and state sector sources. This will help reduce the gap between demand and supply considerably.

Krishna was delivering the inaugural address of the budget session of the state legislature.

He further said that the state is also expecting 2150 Mw from the Dabhol power project of Ratnagiri Gas & Power Pvt. Ltd by the end of this calendar year as against only 350 Mw. The 10,000 Mw power generation include 1600 Mw greenfiled project at Dhopave and 1040 Mw capacity addition.

He also announced that the state government's new plan to widen the state highways into four lanes will be undertaken on Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

In the first phase, the state government has approved the widening of 15 highways at a cost of Rs 2,125 crore. The private sector will give around Rs 1,625 crore and state will pitch in with the viability gap funding (VGF) of Rs 500 crore.

Besides this, state has been allocated Rs 920 crore from the central road fund for various new road projects and also for widening and repairs of old state and district highways, he added.

Claiming that, state has maintained its numero uno position as far as industrial hub of the nation Krishna said, state government's mega project policy is a success story and state manged to attract investment over Rs 43,000 crore from major national and international giants like General Motors, Volkswagon, Bajaj, Mahindra and others.

He also said, average industrial growth of the state has been at 9 per cent for last three years and the state is contributing around 13.5 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He also claimed that, due to the effective implementation of package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the state government, the rate of suicides of farmers has dropped considerably as compared to last year in the Vidarbha region.

However, stopping farmers' suicides altogether remains the top priority for the state government and he listed out programmes undertaken by the state government to ensure that more farmers get institutional credit, and that they get remunerative prices for their produce and, more and more land is irrigated.