Government looking at options to overcome power shortages.
Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday said, his government is planning to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court (SC) over the ban and the CEC probe relating to mining in the state. He also expressed his optimism that the apex court will come to the rescue of the state in lifting the ban in the state.
“The matter is too sensitive to be discussed in public. As the matter is before the court, I should not harm the interests of the state. We had discussions with legal experts in this regard. We are planning to do it, but it might take some time,” Gowda said on the sidelines of a FICCI event here in Bangalore.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had ordered a blanket ban on mining in the state due to the various petitions filed against illegal mining and the environmental impacts due to mining in various parts of the state, including Bellary and Tumkur. It is estimated that due to the ban on mining across the state, around 150,000 people have lost their livelihoods. “The SC has also observed that the ban has caused employment problems in the state and the government is losing revenues due to the stoppage of mining activities,” added Gowda.
Apart from the unemployment created by the ban, it has also impacted the steel industry in the state. Industry delegates present at the event also echoed their concerns on the ban on mining. Due to the ban on mining, the state government has been experiencing a loss of around Rs 4,000 crore annually in revenues.
Further, the CM said: ‘’The ban on mining is a major reason why we are losing many investors who want to invest in the state. We hope that within the next couple of months, we will find solutions to these problems.”
On the recent power shortage being faced in the state, he said, the government was working hard to resolve the issue. The major reason for the shortage is the poor supply of coal, both from the Centre and Telangana. The state is facing a shortage of 437 Mw of power now and has not been able to get power from states like Punjab and Chhattisgarh which was promised earlier.
The government is having discussions with sugar mills in the state to buy power. There are 52 active sugar mills in the state but not all of them have co-gen plants. Most of the co-generators in the state sell power to other states. It is estimated that the co-generators in the state produce around 1,000 Mw of power of which 450 Mw flows into the state grid..
“The sugar mills are asking for more per unit for the power produced by them. We are having discussions with them and are ready to give them more money for per unit.”
Blaming the previous governments, he said, the current scenario of power shortage in state is due to due to the failure on parts of the previous governments as they did little to increase the capacity in the state. The government also said it is going ahead with the pit-head plant in Chhattisgarh and will build a new plant in Raichur which will produce an additional 2,100 Mw.
