Karnataka: Rain or Sun, will give you power, says Energy Minister DK Shivakumar

BENGALURU: Energy minister D.K. Shivakumar on Monday claimed that his department has not resorted to load shedding despite forecasts of a weak monsoon this year. He told the media that, however, there could be power outages or disruption in supply of electricity because several electric poles have been uprooted during pre-monsoon showers.

Mr Shivakumar said the department was ready with a contingency plan for purchase of about 500 to 1,000 MW of electricity in case the monsoon plays truant. Instructions have been given to officials to keep all tenders for purchase of power ready and they would be floated only if the monsoon fails. In fact, the storage of water in all major dams was 10 per cent more than that of the corresponding period last year. Therefore, the state was in a comfortable zone, he added.

He said his department would recruit staff for 15,860 vacant posts including 14,948 posts of junior linemen in view of shortage of staff across the state. Junior linemen would be recruited in three phases. While in the first phase, the department plans to appoint 8080 persons by August, in the second and third phases, 4730 and 2130 vacancies would be filled up. Women too could apply for these posts but there would be no quota for them. The process of appointing 413 assistant engineers, 400 junior engineers, four posts of assistant engineer (civil) and 15 accounts officers had begun. The entire process of recruitment had been entrusted to Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bengaluru.

He said 28,615 candidates have applied for 480 posts of assistant engineers, and an online examination would be held for them on June 28. These exams would be held in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Davangere, Mangaluru, Hubballi-Dharwad and Kalaburgi. The entire process of recruitment would be held in the most transparent manner and the entire process would be video recorded. The recruitment process would start 15 days after IIM-B completes the examination. A notification for recruitment of linemen would be issued on Wednesday. The department would try to accommodate selected candidates in their home districts.

He said the department had stocked 50,000 transformers of the total one lakh new transformers purchased owing to its shortage. Transformer banks would be set up in each taluk along with transformer service centres. Steps had been taken to install a new variety of energy efficient transformers in urban centres where the load would be high.

...but power cuts on

Even as Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar claimed that there was no shortage of power in the state, several areas in Bengaluru experienced power cuts with HSR Layout and areas adjoining Bannerghatta Road, Magadi Road and Sukadakatte the worst affected.

Bescom blames the recent rains which damaged electric poles and transformers saying the power shutdown was necessary because of maintenance work in many parts of city.  “As the Energy Minister has clarified, there is load shedding in city. However many areas are experiencing power cuts due to maintenance work. We take up two kinds of work – preventive and breakdown maintenance. Currently, work is going on at many places. We cannot say when this will be completed, but the power scenario will surely improve as there is enough power to meet the demand in Bengaluru,” a senior Bescom official said.