The Karnataka government has targetted to add 5,000 mw of energy into the state's grid in the next five years to ease the power shortage, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said today.
The Government has drawn up a plan to augment power generation in the backdrop of the shortage it faced this year, he said after laying foundation stone for the Rs 13,000 crore 2400 mw super thermal power plant at Edilapur, about 10 kms from here.
The project was expected to be completed in four years, he said.
The Government purchased power from available sources to ensure that people were not put to hardships during this summer, he said.
Yeddyurappa said the Government would be implementing in phases of the Nirantara Vidyut programme, under which villages were ensured power round the clock.
On the opposition Congress and JDS criticism on the performance of his one-year-old Government and also on the state's financial health, Yeddyurappa, who is also the Finance Minister said, he would reply to the charges in the coming legislature session, likely to be convened shortly.
He asked Congress leaders N Dharam Singh and M Mallikarjun Kharge, who have won the Lok Sabha polls from Bidar and Gulbarga constituencies respectively, to mount pressure on the UPA Government to amend the Article 371 of the constitution to provide for special economic status to the backward North Karnataka region.