Government approves UPCL second unit to solve power shortage issues

Government approves UPCL second unit to solve power shortage issues

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Oct 13, 2011 :The state government is now ready to approve the setting up of the second unit of the Udupi Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) in order to deal with shortage of electricity. Although CM D. V. Sadananda Gowda had visited UPCL just 2 months before taking over as the CM and had said that UPCL should be shut down because it was having an adverse effect on the local people, he has now taken special interest in approving the second unit.

 

Mr. Gowda’s taking over as the CM of Karnataka neither shut down the power plant nor solved the problems of the local people. Since the CM ought to solve the problem of acute power shortage faced by the state, he appears to have realized that he has to clear the second unit although he knows that it is having a bad effect on the local people. While this is great news for people who are suffering all sorts of losses because of shortage of power, it is the worst news for those who are opposing the UPCL project and demanding that it should be shut down.

The first unit of UPCL, which is producing 600MW, is making people’s lives miserable. The tons of fly ash and the saline water pumped in from the sea to cool down its boilers have wrecked agricultural fields. The setting up of a second unit will create worse problems.

 The 600MW produced by UPCL is being supplied to Mescom and Bescom, satisfying around 30 percent of the demand for power. Since the demand is rising every year, a second unit will go a long way in solving the problem of power shortage in the state.

For the last 3 days, the first unit has been shut down for annual maintenance. However, the UPCL appears to have shut down the first unit at the worst possible time, when the state requires power the most just to exert pressure on the government to approve the setting up of its second unit.