K'taka likely to purchase power from Central grid, AP, Kerala

Bangalore, Jan 8 (UNI) Faced with a power crisis, the Karnataka Government proposed to purchase power from the Central Power Grid and from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Kerala to tide over the power shortage of 15 to 20 millions units, Energy Minister H D Revanna disclosed today.

Talking to reporters here, he said the proposal to introduce load shedding in urban and rural areas was before the Cabinet Sub-Committee. He would submit a detailed report on the power situation in the next Cabinet meeting after getting reports from the five distribution companies, he added The Minister said generation of 500 MW of thermal power from Bellary would start in April-May.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation, in a release here, said Karnataka would face a shortfall of 300 to 350 MW of power due to shutdown of Nagjhari power house for eight days from January 14 for repair and maintenance of its Unit II Main Inlet Valve.

The KPTCL said there would be unscheduled load shedding to maintain grid frequency and stability whenever the system required as quarterly repair and maintenance works on transmission lines, sub-station and distribution lines would also be taken up simultaneuously by the Transmission and Distribution companies.

UNI