Friday, June 6, 2008

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Reconsider thermal unit at Chamalapura: KERC

Reconsider thermal unit at Chamalapura: KERC

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun62008/state2008060671991.asp

By K N Reddy, DH News Service, Bangalore:

Blaming the State government undertaking Power Company of Karnataka Limited (PCKL) for the controversy surrounding the setting up of a 1,000 MW coal based thermal power plant at Chamalapura in Mysore district, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has advised the government to take a fresh look at the decision.

In its report submitted to the State government, the KERC has charged the PCKL with conducting the bidding process for the project in a “very casual manner”.

Further it said the PCKL had failed to comply with the bidding guidelines issued by the Government of India and had given misleading replies.

The issues raised by the petitioners as well as the public should have been considered before arriving at a decision to set up a plant at Chamalapura.

Therefore, take a de-novo decision regarding establishing the thermal plant at Chamalapura,” KERC has stated in the report.

The PCKL had recently invited bids for setting up 1,000 MW coal fired thermal projects each at Jewargi in Gulbarga district and Ghataprabha in Belgaum district besides Chamalapura.

This sparked off strong protests from environmentalists and also farmers of Chamalapura against the project.

They also filed a petition before the KERC, following which the latter held hearings and submitted report to the government last month.

In the report, the KERC has taken note of the petitioners contention that location of the project within 25 kms of the outer periphery of national parks and sanctuaries is against the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Pollution Control Board etc.

Further the project would have an adverse effect on the tourism industry, as the proposed project is very close to the heritage city of Mysore.

Moreover, as most of the villages have fertile lands, the proposed project will render them infertile thereby jeopardising the livelihood of large number of farmers, who are dependant on agriculture.

On the issue of water availability at Chamalapura, the report says the data collected for the last 10 years indicate that there is severe shortage of water during summer months as rivers go dry.

“During the drought years of 2002, 2003 and 2004, there was no availability of water during summer months even for irrigation purposes. In such a situation how can a thermal plant sustain to meet the peak demand?”, the KERC has asked.

On the demand for setting up an expert committee by KERC for a detailed study of the desirability of thermal power plants in different parts of Karnataka, the KERC has said this is basically a planning function being discharged by the State government in co-ordination with the transmission and distribution companies and does not fall under its domain of functions.

“However the KERC will advise the government to set up an expert committee as it falls within the domain of the Government,” it has stated.

Regarding petitioners’ contention that reduction of T & D losses would help in supplementing the additional energy requirement, the KERC has observed that while the Mescom has been achieving the targets set by it, other supply companies have failed to achieve the targets.

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