Naveen to Centre: Crisis acute, give more power

BHUBANESWAR: Faced with acute power deficit, the State Government on Thursday asked the Centre to allocate an additional 500 MW of electricity from Talcher Super Thermal Power Station (TSTPS), Stage-II, to overcome the crisis. “I request you to consider allocation of additional 500 MW power from TSTPS Stage-II against our entitlement as Odisha has not availed its legitimate share of 500 MW from the station,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in a letter to Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.The crisis situation has seriously affected the general public, agricultural operations and industrial production, Patnaik said. ‘’The current peak power demand of the State is more than 3300 MW and there is already a shortfall of around 800 MW,” he wrote and attributed the deficit situation to the low reservoir level in some of the state’s hydel projects in southern region.Since only 25 per cent of water is available in the reservoirs at Upper Kolab, Upper Indravati and Balimela, the Government has preserved the water for rabi crops. This had led to a drastic decline in the hydro power availability in the State, he said.The State’s internal demand of power has also increased following rapid industrialisation and rural electrification under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and the state funded Biju Gram Jyoti scheme, he said in the letter while justifying the State’s demand for additional allocation of 500 MW from TSTPS.Around 11 lakh BPL households in 45,000 villages and habitations have already been electrified. Further, 23 lakh BPL households in 50,000 villages and habitations will be provided electricity connection soon under these two schemes, the Chief Minister said.This was Patnaik’s third letter to the Power Ministry seeking allocation of 500 MW of additional power to the State as Odisha had earlier not availed its quota from the Central pool. Under similar condition, the State Government had requested last year for additional allocation of 350 MW. However, the Centre provided only 50 MW for a couple of days.