Karnataka Power minister goes back on his tall promise

BENGALURU: Unscheduled power cuts in Bengaluru and other major cities are still the norm despite a grand announcement of curtailing power cuts after September 20 came from energy minister D K Shivakumar, about a fortnight ago. In his defense, Shiva Kumar on Tuesday blamed the indifference of the NDA government at the centre and insufficient rains. "Centre had agreed to provide 200MW of power from the Central Grid from 10pm to 4am, on a daily basis but it is yet to become a reality. The State requested for 1,500MW and they are giving us just 50MW now," he added. He said he was hoping that things would improve after the rains showed signs of revival earlier this month but it proved wrong. "Water level at all major hydel reservoirs across the state is presently at 49 per cent of the total storage capacity compared to 85 percent last year," he added. The minister also cited drought and dysfunctional thermal power units for severe power shortage. On September 20, Shivakumar had announced that the duration of load-shedding will reduce by September 20 across the State. The minister's optimistic words came just a day after he had said that the present power shortage may continue till December-end. The minister had then claimed that things have improved largely because of wind energy and improved production at the major thermal Power Stations. "We are looking at buying power from neighbouring states to tide over the crisis," Shivakumar said. -TOI