Saturday, Oct 30, 2004
Saturday, Oct 30, 2004 |
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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Karnataka
By Our Staff Reporter
The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh (second from left); the Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah (next to Mr. Singh); the Janata Dal (S) President, H.D. Deve Gowda (second from right); the Industries Minister, P.G.R. Sindhia (right); and the Energy Mi nister, H.D. Revanna (left), at a meeting to review the performance of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd., in Bangalore on Friday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.
BANGALORE, OCT. 29. T he State Government on Friday decided "in principle" to give free power to all Bhagya Jyothi connections and to regularise 1.35 lakh unauthorised irrigation pumpsets (IPsets). It was also decided to ensure eight hours of three-phase power in all villages in the State. These decisions were announced after the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, the Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, the Janata Dal (Secular) President and the former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, the Energy Minister, H. D. Revanna, and the Minister for Large-and Medium-scale Industries, P.G.R. Sindhia, met here to review the performance of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. Mr. Singh later told presspersons that Mr. Deve Gowda was asked to come as a special invitee "to guide the Government in solving the power crisis in the interests of farmers." Mr. Revanna said the decisions taken on Friday would be forwarded to the next Cabinet meeting and the financial implications of the move worked out. He said there were 14.4 lakh Bhagya Jyothi connections but did not say anything about metering the IPsets. In his Budget speech this July, Mr. Siddaramaiah had stressed that the Government could not afford to subsidise the power sector. Losses for 2003-04 were close to Rs. 3,000 crores and this could not continue, he had said.
Energy audit
He stressed that a strict energy audit was required to reduce technical and commercial losses, and "for this, all consumers must be metered." He had said that the Government "cannot allow an unbudgeted increase in the power subsidy to crowd out more productive expenditure." Besides, during the discussions on the Budget, the matter of Bhagya Jyothi connections had raised a lot of heat in the Assembly because studies, including the one undertaken by the Institute for Social and Economic Change, have shown that there is rampant misuse of power in this category.
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