Kerala - Kollam   

Balan warns of losing power quota

KOLLAM: Electricity Minister A.K. Balan has said delay in the commissioning of the 400-kV power highway through Kerala will deny the State of its quota from the Kudankulam Power Project.

Addressing a meet-the-press here on Thursday, he said that if the power highway was not commissioned within the stipulated period, Kerala’s quota would go Tamil Nadu.

The power highway from Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu passes through Kerala to Mysore. The Minister said uncertainty loomed large over the progress of the Edamon-Ernakulam course of the highway due to stiff resistance from a section of farmers in Pathanamthitta and Kollam districts.

Such resistance was witnessed at Thiruvambadi. The Minister had called a meeting there and an amicable settlement was reached. This had cleared the way for commencing the construction of the Azhikode-Thrissur-Ernakulam course of the highway. The Azhikode-Mysore course was almost complete.

If the hindrance along the Edamon-Ernakulam course was cleared, Kerala would have its full stretch of the power highway and becomes entitled to the quota of about 400 MW from the Kudankulam project. Farmers in Pathanamthitta and Kollam were continuing with a negative stand on the issue, he said.

The Minister said that several measures were being taken to improve the power position in the State. The most important among them being the steps taken to reduce transmission loss, for which a Rs.1,800-crore project had been sanctioned. The project comprised 200 new sub-stations.

The aim was to bring down transmission loss to the international level of 15 per cent, he added.

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