Hike in power tariff inevitable: KPTC chief

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, JUNE 06, 2003 12:55:58 AM ]

HUBLI: Hike in power tariff was inevitable as the state was purchasing power from thermal plants which was costlier to produce to make up for the fall in hydro power production KPTC chairman K.N. Srivatsava said here on Thursday. The state is currently facing a 50 per cent shortfall in power production and was purchasing power from other states. The cost of the power per unit from thermal plants was around Rs 2.50 compared to 50 paise per unit for power from hydro plants, the KPTC chairman told reporters. Coming down heavily on leaders ‘misleading’ farmers into removing meters installed for pumpsets he categorically stated that supply to unmetered pump sets would be cut.

He also cautioned those removing meters adopted for domestic connections in villages. and said that the power companies will be forced to cut power for the entire villages if such incidents were reported on a large scale. The Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation will appoint 1,300 engineers in next three months but decided to outsource the lower grade posts in the four companies. The KPTC chairman said that works in KPTC and the working of the four companies was hampered due to shortage of technical staff though the companies had adequate administerial staff. There are 22,000 vacant post till date in KPTC. He said most of the vacant post belonged to Group C and D categories and the corporation had decided to out source those job. Most of the vacant post were with the Hubli Electric Power Supply Company and Gulbarga Electric Power Supply Company, he noted.