Minister for Energy D.K. Shivakumar has directed the officials of Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (Mescom) to establish transformer banks in all taluks of the district.
Of the seven taluks in the district, Shivamogga, Shikaripur, Bhadravati and Sagar have transformer banks. It is essential to have transformer banks in Tirthahalli, Hosanagar and Sorab taluks also, he said at a meeting at the Mescom office here on Saturday.
During monsoon, the incidents of damage to transformers owing to heavy rain and wind would be high. It was necessary to establish new transformer banks to ensure speedy replacement of the damaged ones, he said.
According to an estimate, there were more than 20,000 unauthorised irrigation pump set connections in the district. December 31 is the last date to submit applications for regularising the unauthorised pump set connections. A sum of Rs. 10,500 should be paid as fee for regularisation of unauthorised connections, he said.
Permission from the Department of Forest is awaited for providing power connection to houses at Shettyhalli and Chitrashettyhalli in Shettyhalli wildlife sanctuary limits. The possibility of providing power to these villages by harnessing solar energy is being explored, Mr. Shivakumar said.
Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar, who was present at the meeting, urged Mr. Shivakumar to direct the Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. to provide employment to one youth from each family that had been displaced owing to Sharavati and Varahi hydro electricity projects in the district.
K.B. Prasanna Kumar, Shivamogga MLA; Sharada Poorya Naik, Shivamogga Rural MLA, and M.J. Appaji, Bhadravati MLA were present.
