BENGALURU: Energy minister D K Shivakumar on Monday mocked at Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, saying he should use his good offices to ensure a continuation in supply of coal to various power plants in Karnataka incase he was concerned about power outages in Bengaluru and other parts of the state.
He told the media here that Mr Javadekar should get his facts right as the state government had not resorted to unscheduled power cuts. In fact, the state had a surplus of 900 MW of power which could be used at anytime. "Following Mr Javadekar's allegations, I personally checked all 1506 feeders, and noted no interruption in supply of power. In 62 feeders, however, BBMP, BMRCL and other government agencies interrupted supply of power for a couple of hours without seeking permission of BESCOM for digging up cables. The lines have been restored immediately. We have directed these agencies not to take up any such work without the permission of BESCOM permission," he added.
Mr Shivakumar said he has written to Union coal minister Mr Piyush Goyal with a plea to continue the "bridge linkage" system with regard to supply of coal to power generation plants in the state for at least three years. His letter follows the Union government's decision to discontinue the system with effect from May 31 along with a directive asking the state government to apply for coal through Shakti scheme.
In his letter to Mr Piyush Goyal, Mr Shivakumar said the Union government's decision would impact power production in the state. The decision would effectively prevent the ministry of commerce from executing approval on allocation of coal blocks at Ghogarpalli and Dip Side of Ghogarpalli, Odhisha in 2016.
