Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar said on Sunday that the State government would purchase 450 MW of power from Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC).
He told presspersons after visiting the Varahi Underground Powerhouse here that he would sign an agreement with DVC on Tuesday. The government had also floated tenders to purchase 1,000 MW of power on a long term. The government was also ready to purchase power from other States, the Minister said.
Many companies had signed power purchase agreements and memorandums of agreement with the State government to provide solar power and wind power. But some of these companies had not commissioned their projects. These projects were only on the paper and some of these companies had taken huge tracts of land. Such projects would be cancelled. “We have issued show-cause notice to such companies,” he said.
Besides cancelling these projects, the government would allot them either to other companies or its own agencies. To a question, he said such companies had promised to generate 1,000 MW of solar power, but were producing only 50 MW. “We will take legal action and blacklist them,” he said.
The government would take steps see that there was no power shortage in the State. There would be no load-shedding in the State and students preparing for examination would not be affected, he said. There could, however, be disruptions in power supply in coastal and Malnad regions due to tree falls, the Minister said.
The State government had assured farmers that they would get seven hours of power supply every day for their irrigation pumpsets. “We have kept our word,” he said.
On providing round-the-clock power supply in taluks where power projects were located, Mr. Shivakumar said Udupi district in-charge Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake and local MLA Pramod Madhwaraj had raised this issue with the government.
The government was planning to provide 24 hours of power supply in such taluks under the Nirantara Jyoti scheme. “But we will examine the issue in detail and take a decision ,” he said.
On Congress leader C.K. Jaffer Sharief taking exception to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah not attending the conference of minorities in Bangalore on Saturday, Mr. Shivakumar said that both the Union and State governments were working for the welfare of minority communities.
“Union Minister for Minorities Affairs Rahman Khan is from our State. Health Minister U.T. Khader is active and doing good work. There might be some personal problems, we will set them right,” Mr. Shivakumar said.
Intermittent supply
Staff Correspondent from Mangalore writes:
Mr. Shivakumar told presspersons in Mangalore that providing seven hours of uninterrupted three-phase power supply for farmers “was impossible”, and instead, they would get four hours of intermittent supply in the mornings and three hours of supply in the evenings to operate IP sets.
He said strict action would be taken against officials who fail to prevent “unnecessary” load-shedding.
On the Rs. 11,750-crore dues electricity supply companies (Escoms) have to recover from urban local bodies and government departments, the Minister said they were planning to recover the amount from government grants allocated to the departments.
He said an office of the Chief Electrical Inspectorate for Mangalore Electricity Supply Company would be set up in Mangalore to ensure speedy clearance for issuing electrical licence for buildings and factories.
