The officials of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited said that Maharashtra, which is currently facing acute power shortage, could have mitigated the crisis to certain extent had the 1450 MW hydro power station at the Sardar Sarovar dam on Narmada river become functional.
They said that if this power station at Kevadiya in Bharuch had become fully operational, Maharashtra could have received around 310 million units of power which would have helped it in tiding over the ongoing power crisis to certain extent.
The SSNNL officials on condition of anonymity told that the power station could have generated 1150 million units out of which Maharashtra could have got its allotted share of 310 million units of power as per the fixed formula of the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal.
According to MSEB, the present demand is 16,500 MW but power generation is 11,000 MW. As per the NWDT, Madhya Pradesh has been allotted 57% of power while Maharashtra would get 27% and Gujarat 16% respectively. The power station is not fully operational as the height of the dam could not be raised to 138 meters from current 121.92 meters.
According to officials, due to delay in rehabilitation and resettlement of several projected affected people in Maharashtra, the work on raising the height of the dam is held up since 2006.
Mr Saurabh Patel energy minister of Gujarat said that "It is hoped that Maharashtra government would take steps for speedy completion of work on the Sardar Sarovar Project so that the 1450 MW hydro power station at the dam site becomes fully operational and power generated is shared by all beneficiary states as per the formula fixed by NWDT."
According to SSNNL officials, both the beneficiary BJP ruled states of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have completed work on rehabilitation and resettlement of the project affected people in their respective states while the Congress ruled Maharashtra was yet to complete it.
They further said the Gujarat government has assured its Maharashtra counterpart complete assistance in resolving the issue by offering land to the people of several villages displaced by the project in that state.
Facing acute power shortage to the tune of 3,500 MW to 4,000 MW, Maharashtra utilities have imposed prolonged load shedding schedules causing a lot of hardship for people and industries. Power generation in Maharashtra has been hit due to shortage in coal supply following Telangana agitation in neighboring Andhra Pradesh and floods in Orissa.
According to Maharashtra State Electricity Board, the present demand is 16,500 MW but power generation is 11,000 MW, necessitating load shedding of 3 to 7 hours in urban areas and 11 to 13 hours in rural areas.
(Sourced from PTI)
