Why is the power generation of the state falling below the installed capacity? : CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah questioned why the power generation of the state has fallen below the installed capacity.

At the energy department progress review meeting held today at Home Office Krishna, CM Siddaramaiah questioned, At present only 32,009 mega watt is being produced. He asked for explanations as to why there was no increase in production in the last four years. In our first term government, despite all the problems, power generation was doubled. In 2013-14 when we came to power, 14,048 MW was generated. By 2017-18, the generation had increased to 27,780 MW. He recalled that it was almost double.

Reacting to this, the officials said that the quality of coal distributed by the center to the state is not good. As it is not in the required quality, it is affecting the amount of power generation. This has been brought to the attention of the center and we have requested for the allocation of two rack of additional coal every day. He explained that tenders have also been called for importing coal.

The Chief Minister instructed to take necessary steps to generate electricity in accordance with the installed capacity of the state and instructed not to use wet coal in thermal power plants. Promotion of use of the solar electric pumpsets for irrigation was discussed in the meeting. The officials drew the Chief Minister's attention to the fact that it is possible to prevent illegal irrigation pumpset menace and power transmission leakage.

Under the Gruha Jyoti Yojana, 1.26 crore consumers have been given zero electricity bills in the month of August and 1.35 crore consumers in the month of September. He gave details that Rs 1400 crore has been provided for this. The financial condition of Eskoms was also discussed in the meeting. He directed all the Eskoms of the state to pay more attention to the issue of power leakage. Similarly, he suggested to take action for installation of the transformer and installation of power sub-stations where necessary.

Rs 2500 crores have been provided for the establishment of power substations in the current year. The Chief Minister suggested that it would be appropriate to discuss the current electricity situation and financial situation of the state in the Cabinet meeting.

Energy Minister KJ George, Chief Minister's Political Secretary Naseer Ahmed, Deputy Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Dr. Rajneesh Goyal, Energy Department Deputy Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta, Finance Department Secretary (Expenditure) Dr. M.T. Raju and other senior officials of the government were present.