Karnataka Power Muddle

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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

the power circus

text of the letter sent to the Times of India:

I refer to the news item captioned 'KPTCL starts new power company' - Power Company of Karnataka Ltd (PCKL), if you please - reported in your columns on the 8th Sept.

It is supposedly being promoted by KPTCL to set up three new 1000 MW mega power plants in the state. Now, when there already exists the fairly competent KPCL in the state for precisely the same purpose, one wonders what exactly the KPTCL and the government are upto.

Even stranger is the suggestion supposedly made to the ESCOMS to invest Rs 1 crore each in the new company to help it establish itself, even as they are collectively due from the government subsidy arrears of the order of Rs 2,400 crores.

All in all, the government, along with its agencies, has converted the power sector in the state into some kind of a circus. And, all that the KERC is interested in is playing the role of a consumer forum.