‘Power’ districts in Mahashtra to be free of load shedding

Districts that generate more than 1000 MW of power may soon become load shedding-free. The Mahashtra government is considering rewarding such districts to quell the opposition of local people to power generation projects, as in the case of the Jaitapur nuclear power project.

The state is planning to move a proposal before the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for a sanction to its plan.

If the MERC approves the proposal, nearly nine districts would be rid of load shedding, which lasts up to 10 hours daily in rural areas. These districts include Amravati, Chandrapur, Nagpur, Jalgaon, Nashik, Ratnagiri, Beed and Satara.

Energy minister Ajit Pawar said that his department was serious about its proposal. “These areas suffer and sacrifice a lot. Continuous power is justified, considering their contribution to such projects,” he said.

According to guidelines of the Union energy department, the state government has already moved a proposal of continuous flow of power to people living within a 5-km radius of power projects.

“We are going a step ahead by extending the benefit to the entire district. But both these proposals are subject to the MERC’s approval,” he added.

Pawar said this would help them reduce opposition of the local people.