The State Government will give priority to resolve issues that were delaying in commissioning the second unit of the Udupi Power Corporation's coal-based power plant. The Cabinet will be taking up the matter shortly and resolve the issues in the next two weeks, said Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda.
Mr. Gowda told presspersons here on Sunday that there had been several reasons for the delay. There was delay on the part of the company at the time of construction of power plants because of failure of Chinese engineers to attend the work following earthquake in China. There had been delay because of the change in the stand of Indonesia over supply of coal, he said.
On the other hand, getting clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest was delayed for the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation's work of setting up the 400 kV transmission line for evacuating power from the project. “There are other problems too. There is also environment problem,” he said.
Mr. Gowda said the State Government had taken a serious view of the project. In the coming Cabinet meeting, discussions would be held about memorandum of understanding to be signed by the UPCL, the Government, and the Electricity Supply Companies. “We will take steps to resolve all issues in the next two weeks,” he said.
The 1200 MW coal-based power plant of the UPCL was located in the Nanidkur village near Udupi. While the first unit of the plant of 600 MW capacity started commercial operations in November 2010, the second unit, also with a capacity of 600 MW, was yet to begin its operations.
A few days ago, T.V. Ramachandra from Energy and Wetlands Research Group of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Y.B. Ramakrishna, Executive Chairman of Karnataka State Biofuel Development Board, submitted to Vishwesha Tirtha Swami of Pejawar Mathi, a detailed report about the problems caused because of UPCL.
The swamiji demanded the State Government take steps to stop pollution or shut down the plant's operation.
