Bengaluru: The Cabinet on Tuesday discussed the grim power situation in the state, which is likely to lead to major load shedding in the next two to three months. At the end, Chief Minister Mr Siddaramaiah asked the Chief Secretary to hold a meeting to work out a plan to ease the situation.
Sources said the fire at Sharavathi project had led to a power deficit of 1000 MW power in the state. Though power was available for purchase, the state does not have a grid to route the purchased power to its network. Even for distribution, work on the powerline network has been stopped in Tumakuru due to protests by local residents.
Sources said the government was paying different compensation amounts for land acquired for different purposes. For land meant for power grid, the compensation is higher while for KPTCL high tension wires, it is less. For regular power lines, it is even lesser. The locals are demanding uniform compensation for three segments. As per information provided to Cabinet, the demand and supply for February was manageable at around 9300 MW. However, in March, the demand would be 10,026 MW, while the supply would be only 9218 MW. In April, the demand would be 10,453 MW, while supply would be 9762 MW. The Energy Department hopes the demand in May might drop to 9318 MW, while supply would be 9156 MW. Generation at Sharavathi station is expected to return to normal in four months but it might take longer, sources added.
