Power shortage will not be severe during summer: Deshmukh

Nagpur, Mar 6 (UNI) Seeking to put at rest fears of prolonged load-shedding in the state during the summer months this year, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today said the power shortage would ease in the coming weeks with the generation expected to increase by 1,200 Mega Watt (MW) by next month and another 700 MW by the end of the year.

Mr Deshmukh told reporters here, the two new units of 250 MW each, at the thermal power stations at Paras and Parali were expected to go on steam by next month. This would give the state an additional 500 MW of electricity.

The Dabhol power plant would start generating an additional 700 MW by next month if sufficient Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) becomes available, Mr Deshmukh said. With this, the output from the plant, which was generating 700 MW now, would increase to 1,400 MW, he said.

Thus, the state would get an additional 1,200 MW from Paras, Parali and Dabhol, he pointed out.

''We are trying to achieve generation at the full capacity of 2,100 MW at Dabhol by December and making efforts to finalise the supply of CNG for the plant. The work of laying a pipeline for the supply of CNG is progressing fast and is expected to be completed by the end of March,'' the Chief Minister said.

Besides, a proposal of the National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) to set up a 1,000 MW power plant in Mouda in Nagpur district was expected to be cleared soon, he said.

Private players like the Tata Group and the Reliance would add 4,000 MW of generating capacity, Mr Deshmukh said adding that financial tie-ups had been finalised for the proposed capacity expansion of 7,500 MW of Maharashtra State Electricity Generation Company (Mahagenco). The power crisis in the state would ease by 2010, Mr Deshmukh reiterated.

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