The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Make State self-sufficient in power: Minister

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Monday, Jul 07, 2008
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Karnataka

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Make State self-sufficient in power: Minister

Special Correspondent

Eshwarappa advises engineers to work towards ending power shortage

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Lending an ear: Minister for Energy K.S. Eshwarappa having a word with Tushar Girinath, Managing Director of BESCOM, at the 45th general body meeting of Karnataka Electricity Board Engineers’ Association, in Bangalore on Sunday. KEBEA president B.N. Sathyaprema Kumar is also seen.

BANGALORE: Minister for Energy K.S. Eshwarappa on Sunday advised engineers in the power sector to work towards ending power shortage in the State in the next five years.

Inaugurating the 45th general body meeting of the Karnataka Electricity Board Engineers’ Association (KEBEA) here, Mr. Eshwarappa told the engineers to chalk out plans for ensuring 24x7 power supply to all sectors in the next five years.

Karnataka should stop depending on other States for its power needs. Instead, it should be a model for others in the power sector. Farmers, households, industries and commercial establishments should get uninterrupted power for 24 hours a day, the Minister said.Earlier, KEBEA president B.N. Sathyaprema Kumar urged the Minister to constitute a medical welfare trust for retired employees of the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. and electricity supply companies (ESCOMs). Some amount could be deducted from the pension of the employees, he suggested.

Mr. Kumar also requested Mr. Eshwarappa to regularise the services of assistant engineers and probationary assistant executive engineers, who were recruited in 2003. For political reasons, the previous government did not regularise their services while it regularised that of engineers recruited in 2006, he said.

The KEBEA also urged the Government to come out with a cadre management policy for the department, which had around 50,000 employees, as there was no “proper human resource (HR) policy” at present. The Government should ensure that every employee got at least three promotions in his service, Mr. Kumar said.

S. Sumanth, Managing Director, Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd., said that if the transmission losses were reduced by 10 per cent, the request for subsidies from various ESCOMs would come down by 60 per cent. “To make our system viable, we have to add 5,000 MW to our grid in the next five years and at least 1,500 MW annually for the first two years,” he observed.

Meanwhile, elections for the posts of KEBEA office-bearers, which had around 3,800 members, were held on Sunday.

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