The State is likely to witness a power crisis this year too owing to short supply of coal by the Centre to the State, Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar has said.
He briefed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at a meeting here on Saturday on the power shortage situation. Speaking to presspersons after the meeting, he said while the situation does not yet warrant load-shedding, there was a possibility of this happening in the near future if the shortage of coal continues.
At present, the four thermal power stations operated by Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. (KPCL) are operating on a zero day reserve basis with the stockpile of coal having been exhausted owing to various factors. There is a supply on a day-to-day basis and nothing in addition. KPCL requires around 12 trainloads of coal daily. However, only eight trainloads are reaching it, leading to units having to be shut down because of non-availability of coal, the Minister told the Chief Minister.
Recently, Bengaluru witnessed frequent power cuts for a day after generation had to be stopped at a few major thermal power station units as coal was not available. However, immediate buying of power mitigated the situation. But, this might repeat in the near future if arrangements are not made to stockpile coal, the Minister said.
