Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has directed the energy department not to go for power-cuts even though the state is facing a drought-like situation.
Mr Siddaramaiah gave this direction during the energy department review meeting held on Thursday.
Quoting Mr Siddaramaiah, energy minister D.K. Shivakumar, who briefed reporters, said consumers’ interest was paramount for the department. He directed the department not to adopt load-shedding in rural areas where farmers received three -phase seven hours power every day.
“We are ready to face any eventuality. People, farmers and industries will not be disturbed and efforts will be made to give quality power to them,” Mr Shivakumar said. Though the government made plans to buy power, barring an emergency situation, this would not be done. “But the emergency situation has not arisen yet. We are distributing the power as we get it from the central grid,” he said.
Siddaramaiah apprises Modi of impending crisis
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi explaining to him the poor storage of water owing to failure of the South-West Monsoon in Karnataka.
He said during the prevailing monsoon from June 1 to August 15, 2016, the State had an overall rainfall deficit of 10 per cent. “The deficit rain in the catchment area of the Cauvery basin as well as the catchment area of the main reservoirs which provides hydel power is a matter of grave concern. Low water level in reservoirs has impacted farming in the command area. Poor storage in the Cauvery basin reservoirs is likely to affect drinking water availability in Bengaluru,” he said.
The CM said, “My government is very closely monitoring the situation and our cabinet has taken a decision not to allow any further release for irrigation, except in exceptional cases and utilise the existing water only for drinking purposes. Since there is a general perception that the South-West Monsoon has been almost normal in Karnataka, I thought it necessary to bring the above facts to your attention.”
