Power-starved state to get 929mw more

Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday announced that the state will get additional 929mw electricity on a priority basis to help it tide over power shortage. While 429mw will be on a permanent basis, 500mw will be for a short duration, he said.

Shinde held a meeting with chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and his deputy RR Patil at the ‘Sahyadri’ guest house and instructed them to take measures to expedite the power projects in Malvan and Solapur. The joint capacity of these projects is 6,000mw.

Shinde said 300mw would be made available from the Dabhol power project, 129mw would come from Chhattisgarh and 500mw from the Kawas-Gandhar project in Gujarat. He also suggested that the issue of land acquisition for the Malvan project should be solved by giving a compensation of Rs1 crore each to the owners of the land acquired.

“Once the projects are completed, the areas could see an investment of Rs60,000 crore. The land owners should realise that their property is important for the state to get the investment. Political will is necessary to convince them,” Shinde said.

State power minister Dileep Walse-Patil said the additional electricity would help the state the overcome the electricity shortage. “Electricity from the Kawas-Gandhar project will be costly. I am not sure for how long we will get it. Our officers will go to New Delhi and decide the time limit,” he said.

“Last year, Maharashtra had a shortfall of 5,000mw. This year, the deficit is 4,000mw. Since last week we are facing a shortage of 3,000mw,” Walse-patil said.