Shinde balm for power woes of Mumbai

Mumbaikars can heave a sigh of relief as Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has directed National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to supply to Mumbai 200 Mega watt (Mw) power from its Kawas-Gandhar plant in Gujarat for meeting the city's power shortage.

The decision was taken at a meeting called by Shinde to resolve the city's power woes. The meeting was attended by State Energy Minister Dileep Walse-Patil, Maharashtra Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) Sanjay Bhatia and representatives of Tata Power, Reliance Energy, BEST, NTPC and Union Power Secretary RV Shahi.

Earlier this month, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) had asked Mumbaikars to reduce their power consumption by 20 per cent.

The commission also announced many measures to reduce power consumption in the city, like cutting power supply to neon signs, illuminated advertising bill-boards and flood-lighting of buildings, including heritage buildings.

The regulator had also directed the utilities to prepare a plan to carry out load shedding in the city if all these measures did not result in reduced power consumption.

After the meeting, Shinde said, "Mumbai is the commercial capital of India and one can't keep it in dark, as it will send wrong signals to the world and affect foreign direct investment and the tourism industry".

A senior official from a power utility who attended the meeting said, "There are no constraints on Gujarat-Maharashtra corridor, so bringing power from Gujarat is not really a problem."

However, the question remains whether the private players who supply power to Mumbai will really buy costly power from the Kawas plant which uses naphtha.

MSEDCL is buying power from Kawas at Rs 7.26 paisa per unit to meet the state's huge power deficit of 4,000 to 4,500 Mw.