KOZHIKODE: Electricity Minister A.K. Balan has warned that power shortage was an eventuality the State may have to face.

Addressing presspersons here on Saturday, the Minister expressed the view that hurdles in the implementation of power projects could be suicidal for a State such as Kerala that produced only 50 per cent of its requirements.

It was with a view to combat the situation that the Government chalked out a 10-year project for producing an additional 1,000 MW in two phases. Kerala was one of the four States in the country that had not implemented the bifurcation of the State Electricity Board as per the 2003 Act that would lead to private participation in the power sector, he said. "Under the circumstances any stand by the Centre by way of cut from the Central power pool or fund allocation for mega power projects could affect the power scenario here. The State Government is hopeful that the Centre would not adopt such a stand."

He warned that any further delay in the commissioning of the Athirappalli Hydel Project could worsen the power shortage already being experienced in the State.

"Kerala had its own power for only half of its requirements. The rest has to be purchased from outside. Under the circumstances, the standstill being experienced in the work on the Athirappalli power project would result in severe power shortage, load-shedding, power-cuts and higher charge." The fallout would also be felt in the agriculture and industrial sector too, he said.

Four lakh connections

Legal and technical hurdles were delaying the commissioning of the project, work on which was started ten years back, Mr. Balan said. He claimed that four lakh connections had been given in the eight months since the LDF Government came to power. This gave a fillip to public sector undertakings, tea estates and the industrial sector in general, he said.

The KSEB had also discovered power thefts to the tune of Rs.9 crore. A sum of Rs.750 crore was due to the KSEB as arrears from Government departments. As many as 147 civil engineers who had been terminated from service during the tenure of the former Government had been reinstated, he added.

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