Panels to make KPTCL interactive

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, SEPT. 20. The Minister of State for Energy, Mr. Veerakumar A. Patil, said on Thursday that ``electricity advisory committees'' would be set up before November 1.

Advisory committees would be formed in each Legislative Assembly constituency, he told presspersons here at a meeting to review projects taken up by the KPTCL (Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd.).

Through monthly meetings, the committees would help the KPTCL and villagers understand each other's problems. Besides, rural people would be educated on the safe use of power; asked to co-operate in revenue collections; told not to steal power; and urged to disclose names of those who indulged in power theft.

The committees would comprise a KPTCL AEE, four consumers drawing power for irrigation pumpsets (IP sets), and the chairman of the respective gram panchayat (special invitee).

Load shedding: When the minister was asked about the KPTCL's request for imposition of load shedding, he replied that a proposal would be placed before the next Cabinet meeting. But the KPTCL CMD, Mr. V.P. Baligar, admitted that his engineers had been seeking early imposition of load shedding in the State.

``This is necessary because of low voltage and frequency conditions, and also because we have not received adequate rainfall,'' Mr. Baligar explained.

Subsidy to rich farmers: Queried on the large electricity subsidies misused by rich farmers, the minister said ``action will be taken soon''.

Mr. Baligar said rich farmers (IT payers) had been identified as belonging to LT4 (a) and (b) categories but they got around 75 per cent subsidy. ``While they pay Rs. 900 per HP annually, we pay Rs. 3,600 per HP per year,'' he pointed out. The issue would be addressed when the KPTCL went for a tariff revision before the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC), he added.

IP set regularisation: The last date for regularising unauthorised IP sets was October 31, Mr. Baligar said. ``The minister has appealed to farmers to avail of the interest waiver scheme. If they apply before September end, the outstanding interest will be waived,'' he added.

T&D system: According to Mr. Baligar, there is a Rs. 900-crore budget for improving the transmission and distribution system. ``Of this, 40 per cent, or Rs. 364 crores, will go for transmission works, and 60 per cent, or Rs. 545 crores, will be for distribution,'' he said.

Asked how the KPTCL planned to raise funds, Mr. Baligar said the corporation had obtained a Rs. 500-crore loan from the ICICI but would approach commercial banks for Rs. 100 crores to Rs. 200 crores, while an additional Rs. 200 crores would be raised from internal resources.

At the meeting, the minister handed over a cheque for Rs. 50,000 to Manjunath, a boy who suffered burns when he accidentally touched a live wire. According to Mr. Baligar, the Chief Electrical Inspector found that the KPTCL was not at fault in the accident.

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