To offset green damage, State may be robbed of power

Panel favours drawing water from Linganamakki for parched districts

Hydel power generation at the Linganamakki dam may take a beating, if the government goes ahead with the plan to draw water from the Sharavati river to meet Bangalore’s needs.

Water is proposed to be drawn from a distance of 386 km to the TG Halli reservoir. He said that the Linganamakki proposal would also help in providing water to the drought-prone districts like Kolar, Chikkaballapur and Tumkur.

Sources in the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) said that as per the initial proposal of an expert committee, the plan may eat into 40 per cent of the power generated at KPCL’s plant at the dam.

H N Thyagaraja, former chairman of the BWSSB and chairman of the expert committee, said, “It is true that the project will reduce generation at the power plant by 40 per cent.

For every 10 tmc ft of water, the power generation will be cut by a whopping 358 million units (MU). But this power can be replaced with the help of the Bidadi gas power plant and other projects.”

The present water level of the Linganamakki dam is 1,819 feet. As on October 31, KPCL stated that the water level in the dam was 1,816.50 ft and power generation was 4,307 MU. The proposal which has already been vetted by the water resources department has been passed on to the chief minister for consideration.

Water Resources Minister M B Patil told Deccan Herald, “The file has been sent to the chief minister’s office. The issue of drawing water from Linganamakki is now between KPCL and chief minister to decide.”

KPCL yet to get DPR

KPCL managing director M R Kamble was non-commital on parting with water from one of their primary dams which generate power.

“The proposal is still in a nascent stage. We are yet to receive a concrete plan and a detailed project report (DPR) on how the government intends to draw water from the dam. We will decide when the DPR is finalised,” he said.

Thyagaraja said that the committee had recommended that the government must form a panel comprising officials from the KPCL and the departments of water resources, finance and urban development to consider the viability of the Rs 12,500-crore project.

The Linganamakki proposal has been recommended on account of the ‘opposition’ to the Yettinahole project.

Thyagaraja told Deccan Herald that the Yettinahole project had been opposed by several environmentalists as it may disrupt the ecological balance in the Western Ghats. But, minister Patil feels that both projects are independent of each other.

Thyagaraja said that the Yettinahole proposal could be effectively replaced by the Linganamakki proposal as the latter was cost effective.