Bhatkal: Minister of Energy Shobha Karandlaje alleged that former Congress government led by S.M. Krishna sanctioned 71 hydel projects with 25 megawatts each in different parts of Karnataka.


Addressing presspersons in Murudeshwar on Saturday at the end of the two-day Mahila Morcha Convention, Ms. Karandlaje said that the Karnataka High Court had ruled against hydel power stations in the Western Ghats and Malnad areas and the resurvey was going on.

If there was opposition by local people to such projects, they would be cancelled, she said.

Uttara Kannada contributes 8,500 MW of electricity to the State and efforts are on to enhance the capacity.

She said the Government was planning to produce 11,000 MW by tapping wind power. But due to the change in direction of wind, the power generation came down to 1,980 MW, and in last three days it has further reduced to 1,800 MW, the Energy Minister said. This has led to power outages in the State, she said.

Also, water levels in Linganamakki and Supa dams were considerably down because of the poor rains. The power production would be affected from January to May next year if the monsoon did not improve, she said.

The Union government is supplying coal from Nagpur to Karnataka and heavy rain in Nagpur region had led to the increase in moisture content in the coal. This has affected power generation at the Bellary thermal power unit, Ms. Karandlaje said.

V.S. Patil, MLA, Subhadra Dewadiga, vice-president of BJP’s district unit, Savita Gonda, zilla panchayat member, were present.

Source: The Hindu