Date:13/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/13/stories/2008081354400400.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Call to streamline functioning of KSEB

Special Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram: The Standing Council of Trade Unions (SCTU) have called on the Kerala State Electricity Board to streamline its functioning and give more emphasis on hydel generation capacities to avert a crisis that will befall the industrial sector owing to its overdependence on thermal power .

The SCTU, at the end of its State-level conference in Kochi on Monday, faulted both the ruling Left Democratic Front and the Opposition United Democratic Front for their failure to clear technical hurdles that various power projects faced. The trade unions and political parties can no more afford to be silent spectators to opposition by foreign-funded NGOs to various hydel power projects.

The SCTU said that the overdependence on thermal power would destroy the industrial and agriculture sectors. It identified more than 20 small and medium power projects that would be taken up for implementation as early as possible.

The KSEB should come out with an energy policy focussing on hydel generation capacities that would cushion the impact of higher generation costs from thermal stations.