Only nature can save us from power cuts: Cesc MD

With the rain playing truant, the power crisis is only deepening. Only if the rain gods smile can the power situation improve, said Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation managing director P Bore Gowda.

He told Deccan Herald that he is trying his best to ease the situation asking his staff not to resort to unscheduled load shedding and instead to see that there is particular timings adopted for power cuts.

All the major reservoirs in the state have dried up and as the dependence is more on hydel power, no power is being able to generate. Another source of power is the wind power and even here there are problems as only these two sources give a fillip to power generation, he said.

The requirement for the districts coming under Cesc is 900 mw whereas all that is got now is only 500 mw. “I have asked for an additional 130 mw allocation. But even then we will have a deficit of 270 mw. The main problem is during peak hour,” he said.

The industries have been asked to plan their production schedules as the main problem they face is during peak period. Appeals have gone to them to cooperate, said Bore Gowda.

The problems with the farming community is they start using the irrigation pumpsets to draw water fearing the power shortage and this fear of the scarcity increases the demand and adds to the problem, he said.

The only solution right now is to purchase power from outside and this will take its own time as the tenders have to be called for by the Power Corporation of Karnataka Limited, he said.
He reiterated that only a good monsoon even now could ease the situation, as nature is supreme and Cesc cannot do much in this regard.