From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Oct 12: Sharply criticising the BJP leaders for criticising the load shedding being resorted under Congress government, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday asked the BJP leaders to first ponder was how much power was generated under their own government.

Speaking to media persons at the KPCC office, Shivakumar said the BJP leaders must understand that the power shortage in the State is due to the poor monsoon and prevailing drought situation.

“The power generation under BJP rule was dismal and BJP leaders must remember this first,’’ he said pointing out that there would not have been any problem if the State had good rainfall.

He said Karnataka had faced similar situation in the past when the party was in power. Still the power generation was 10,000 to 13,000 mw. But there has been hardly any increase in power generation during the last four years and this has been the main reason for the present situation.

Shivakumar said Karnataka has been facing severe drought and the water storage in almost all hydel reservoirs has slumped. When the State is facing drought, the power generation falls, he said pointing out that the government is taking steps to generate solar and wind power in 10,000 acres of land.

The Deputy Chief Minister mentioned that the demand for power has increased in the agriculture sector as farmers depend on water to pump water. The government is doing its best to ensure that the farmers are not put to any difficulties.

He said the Energy Minister K J George has already discussed with Union Energy Minister to supply additional power to Karnataka from the Central power grid.

Shivakumar, who is also handling the Water Resources Department, said the government will appeal to the Cauvery Water Management Authority to review the decision of the Cauvery Water Review Committee, which had directed the State to supply 3000 cusecs of water daily from October 16 till October 31 in view of the poor monsoon and low storage levels in the State’s reservoirs.

Even though the State has received some amount of inflows in the last two or three days, he said the government has to manage the drought situation in over 200 out of the 236 taluks in the State.