The Hindu : Karnataka News : ZP seeks share of wind power

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Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

ZP seeks share of wind power

Staff Correspondent

Chitradurga district has over 1,600 windmills

Chitradurga: Zilla panchayat members demanded that a portion of the power generated by windmills be made available to the district, at the Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) meeting here on Tuesday.

Raising the issue, chairman of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Industries L.B. Rajashekharappa said the district was not receiving any electricity from the windmills located here, as most of it was being transmitted to Bangalore. He said at least 20 per cent of the power generated from non-conventional energy sources should be reserved for local consumption. “Windmills are being set up in the district, but the local people are being deprived of the benefits,” he remarked.

In reply, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) executive engineer Manjunath said Karnataka Power Transmission Company Ltd. (KPTCL) was responsible for awarding approval and formulating guidelines governing the supply of electricity generated by windmills. BESCOM could only write to KPTCL about the matter, he added.

Guidelines

Zilla panchayat chief executive officer H.P. Prakash instructed Mr. Manjunath to apprise KPTCL officials of the matter and ensure that the guidelines were strictly followed. District forest officer Muttaiah said that around 400 windmills had been set up on forest land and over 1,200 on revenue land.

Discussing the progress made by the Social Welfare Department, Mr. Prakash said the district did not have permanent buildings for students’ hostels, and many of them were being run in rented buildings. To increase the number of hostels and to provide better infrastructure, he proposed that sites be bought with excess funds of various departments. He said the Government was ready to grant funds for hostels, provided the zilla panchayat provided the land. The zilla panchayat would ask the district administration to provide land at a discounted rate for hostels, he said.

On the possible drinking water scarcity during summer, chairman of the Standing Committee on Education and Health H. Somashekar urged the zilla panchayat engineering department to take steps to tackle the situation.

The official concerned said the department had prepared a plan with an outlay of Rs. 9 crore and added that funds given so far were inadequate to meet demands. He said the department had sent a request seeking Rs. 12 crore last year, but received only Rs. 3 crore. Zilla panchayat president Geeta Nandini Gowda was present.

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