BENGALURU: Apprehensions of load shedding in the run-up to the Assembly election due to hiccups in the supply of coal has forced the Siddaramaiah government to look at the import option immediately to avoid load shedding next summer when the state is set to go to polls.
“Efforts are on to import coal to offset any hiccups in supply for thermal power plants in the state. Shortage of coal has severely affected power generation at thermal plants,” Energy Minister D K Shivakumar said here on Friday. The minister said the government will manage the situation by procuring coal from any sources. At any cost, load shedding would not be imposed in the state, he added.
Shivakumar blamed the Union government for disruption in coal supplies to thermal plants in the state. Efforts are on to purchase power and coal from all available sources, he said and reiterated that load shedding would not be imposed. Efforts are on to purchase power from UPCL of Adani Group. “We would not like to indulge in politics in addressing the energy needs of the state,” Shivakumar said.
Hitting back at BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa, who had stated that the Union government is ready to provide power at a lower rate, Shivakumar said, “We will welcome it if Yeddyurappa can get us a dedicated transmission corridor and bring power from the Central grid at `2.50 per unit.” Shivakumar is set to raise the coal crisis issue at the Energy Ministers’ Conference to be held in Delhi from
December 6 to 8.