Weeks after promising no power cuts, minister announces 2-hour loadshedding

mangaloretoday.com/ DHNS

Bangalore | May 6, 2014: Karnataka energy minister D K Shivakumar, who barely two weeks ago had promised that there would be no power cuts in the state this summer, announced a two-hour loadshedding for urban areas in the state on Monday by blaming a dip in power generation.

 

“Power generation has dipped. We have no option but to resort to two hours of load-shedding in urban areas,” Shivakumar said. Technical snags in some thermal stations had led to the decision on the power cuts, he said.

The Raichur Thermal Power Station and the Udupi Power Corporation Limited had developed snags resulting in a shortfall of about 1,000 MW.

Non-availability of as much as 650 MW from sugar industries has also prompted the government to go in for loadshedding with immediate effect, the minister said.

On April 22, after assessing the power situation, the energy minister had claimed that urban areas would get 24 hours of power supply and rural areas seven hours of uninterrupted three-phase supply.

“The government has taken all steps to ensure that people are not hit by a power crisis. The government purchased 650 MW in the last week of March and is generating 450 MW of wind energy,” Shivakumar had stated.