Will buy power at any cost: Ministry

Bengaluru: There will be a power deficit of 1,000-2,000 mw during morning and evening peak hours during summer, say the experts, but the power ministry maintains that the deficit is only around 600-800 mw. There will be no cause for worry till April-end this year, the ministry officials say.

As Sharavathi hydel power station cannot produce power for at least another six months, the ministry has asked the central power minister to come to the rescue of the state by allocating more electricity from the central grid. “The Centre has nearly 3000 mw of power in excess. We had asked them to give us 1,000 mw per day on an emergency basis. We expect power from Kudankulam, Ramagundam and even Kaiga. We are working on alternatives to deal with the crisis and in a day or two, all issues will be sorted out as the Centre has given a positive response,” said Mr Vijayendra from the state power ministry.

“We will purchase power from the central allocation. We are also trying to purchase power from outside agencies. The ministry is not planning any zone-wise load shedding, unscheduled or scheduled power shutdowns, or staggered power supply to industries. There will be no crisis in Bengaluru. We will not introduce power cuts in the next few days, keeping in mind the exams,” he said.

“This year, the crisis is because of Sharavathi shutdown. The plant produced 750-800 mw every day,” Mr. Vijayendra said.

Mr P. Ravi Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary, Power Ministry, said, “As on today, there is no deficit, but we don’t know about next month as the demand can’t be anticipated. By mid-March, the agricultural season gets over and the demand from agricultural sector will come down. We will have a deficit only during peak hours and it is around 700 mw. By March 10, the Ballari thermal plant will start generating power. We expect around 400 mw as it is a new plant. On Monday, the peak load demand was 9320, which we managed without any load shedding. We also had surplus power,” he said.

“There is no shortage of coal and we have stocks for the 20. Water was an issue few days ago, that water has been released from Almatti and Tungabhadra dams. We have cut power for all those who were illegally drawing water. All the illegal pumpsets have been removed from the banks. Water is reaching both the thermal stations and they are up and running. We are meeting peak load shortage by short-term measures," Mr Ravi Kumar said.

In the months of April and May, there is no much demand for power as there are no agricultural operations over the two months. We have not reached that stage to do load shedding at all, or for that matter scheduled or unscheduled power outage. We have removed the staggered power supply to the industries and we do not want to bring it back. We only require more money to buy and the state government has agreed to buy it there is no cause for worry.

Crisis at Minto Hospital
Patients protested at the government-run Minto Eye Hospital as doctors have been postponing surgeries because of power cuts.

“I was scheduled to have an eye surgery on Monday, but I was asked to stay back as there is no power,” says Gayathri (name changed), who has come from North Karnataka.

“The hospital has been battling power crisis because of an electrical glitch in the transformer and we have been trying to run the show with the help of generators since Sunday,” said Dr T.K. Ramesh, Medical Superintendant, Minto Hospital.

Surgeries have been postponed and patients have been asked to come back at a later stage. The wards too were sweltering as no fans could be run. Many patients were seen using candles and torches to go to bathrooms.