BANGALORE: Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda has urged the Centre to provide an additional 500 MW of power besides ensuring sufficient coal supply to the state, whose power generating capacity has been hit badly due to the short supply of coal owing to Telangana protests in Andhra Pradesh.In separate letters to Union Energy Minister Sushil Kumar Sindhe and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, Gowda has demanded 500 MW of power to the state from unallocated share of Central generating stations and an additional daily supply of 10,000 tonnes of coal over and above the existing linkage of about 13,000 tonnes of coal a day from Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) and Mahanadi Coalfields.“The coal supply from Singareni Collieries has completely stopped.As a result, we are forced to shut three units at Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS).This is affecting power supply and is a concern particularly because the state is going through a dry spell resulting in high demand,” the Chief Minister said.Apart from coal supply, there is also a significant reduction in power that Karnataka gets from the Central grid due to the closure of NTPC’s Ramagundam and Simhadri units in Andhra Pradesh, Gowda added. Though the state was making efforts to buy power from outside, the high rates and problems of congestion in transmission corridors were coming in the way, the Chief Minister explained.The CM told reporters on the sidelines of a function that he would speak to both the ministers. “If required, I will meet the ministers and explain the situation,” Gowda added.
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