Severe power shortage grips Karnataka

The severe shortage of power in Karnataka has reached alarming proportions with authorities resorting to long durations of power shut down in various parts of the State including Bangalore.

In view of the failure of monsoon, the authorities had already suspended power generation in a couple of hydro-electric power generating stations in the State. Adding to their woes, the technical snags experienced at two thermal power-generating units at Raichur has sparked off a major crisis in the state.

Several parts of the state including Bangalore remained plunged in darkness for almost two hours on Monday due to an unexpected shortfall. The disruption in power supply continued in various parts of the State even on Tuesday forcing the top brass of Energy Department to go into a huddle and chalk out emergency measures to bail out the state from one of its worst power crisis.

The Energy Department officials apprehended that the crisis could worsen if there is no sufficient rainfall in the next ten days.

Even as the officials attending to the technical snags and hope to set the thermal power generating stations right in the next few days, the storage level in three major hydel resources is a major cause for concern.

Also, the consumption of electricity in the State has increased by almost 15 million units a day compared to the consumption during the same period last year. Against a consumption of 103 million units a day during July last year, the consumption stood at 117 million units this year.

Faced with a bleak power scenario, the Government is expected to take a decision on scheduled as well as unscheduled load shedding during peak hours to offset the severe shortage of power the State is facing.