rCM picks~Tatasto~xecuteBidadi power project

II Decision taken minutes before poll code came into force

Chethan KumarI

i BANGAlORE: Chief Minister~agadish Shettar, who isI also the Chairman of Kar-I nataka Power Corporation

ILimited (KPCll, has selectedTata Projects to execute the

. Rs 2,184-crQrappwer pro]-: ect at Bidadi. J

~~.~---' ..--The decision was taken min-

utes before the Election Com-I mission ofIndia on Wednesday

announced that the modelcode of conduct would comeinto force in the State with im-mediate effect, ahead of theMay5 Assembly elections.

Sources said that the deci-sion to allot the project to TataProjects was taken at the KPCLBoard meeting at about 3 prnon Wednesday despite therenot being consensus over thematter. However, senior bu-reaucrats said that Cabinet nodwas necessary before finalisingthe contract, given the magni-~ of the projectr The 2QQ.:MW gas-basedere-arJOty Q!".Qjectati3iaF§!l1asbeen in the eye of a controversyever since the selection of thefirst lowest bidder in Decemberlastyea1J

Sources said that the matterwas not even on the agenda of

the KPCL Board meeting and,one of the top officialshad evenboycotted the meeting afterlearning about the move toaward the project.

KJP leader Shobha Karand-laje, who was till recently theEnergy Minister in the ShettarCabinet, told Deccan Herald: "Ihave confirmed it with officials,Finance Secretary LV Nagara-jan opposed the decision andcontested that the contractshould not be awarded to anycompany at this stage."

M R Kamble, Managing Di-rector, KPCL was quoted byDeccan Herald in its Wednes-day's report on the Bidadi proj-

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Clearances hold up infrastructureprojects worth (;' lakh crore

AWAITING GREEN SIGNAL~~~~~~~~

ect that the Board had not tak- interest of people.en any decision on the matter "You can check with any ofand that negotiations were on the global companies, thewith three ofthe four shortlist- prices of machinery and othered bidders--Larsen and things have decreased now,Toubro, Tata Projects and and, given the kind of centro-BHEL. versy the project has been in

Karandlaje said the decision since the tendering process be-was taken without following gan last year, it isonly right thatproper procedures and "know- the government re-tenders theing very well that the model project," Karandlaje said.code of conduct was to be an- One of the senior bureau- I

nounced soon," and alleged crats in the State Government,thatthere are conflicting inter- seeking anonymity said: "No,ests in awarding the contract. government order will be is- :She said the decision was not sued in this regard without the ionly made minutes before the permission of the EleJtionmodel code of conduct was in- Commission ofTndia." ,voked, but also was against the DH News Service

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Sidhartha ITNN

New Delhi: Projects worthover Rs 7 lakh crore-whichis equivalent to almost halfthe government spending inthe current financial yea-r-are held up in the absenceof environmental and forestclearances, land and fuel. put-ting a strain on the creaky in-frastructure in the countryand becoming an obstacle foran economy striving to get in-to a high growth trajectory.

According to data com-piled by state-run banks for ameeting with finance minis-ter P Chidambaram, theamount is locked up in 215projects spread across power,roads, ports, cement andsteel, each with an estimatedcost of Rs 250 crore or more.Any delay will push up theoverall cost of setting up theprojects, bankers said. Be-sides. it will increase the riskfor public sector banks,which have already dis-bursed loans amounting to Rs54,000crore.

"The delays tend to havean impact on other projects aswell and result in a vicious cy-cle. They also affect the over-all sentiment," Arvind Maha-Jan. head of infrastructureand government practice atconsulting firm KPMG, said:

Although the governmentis betting on the cabinet com-mittee on investment to re-

Green nodLandFuelWeather/ GeologyVendorsFundsOther govt-relatedPromoter

Sasan Power

Approvals/Right of way

20,852 Athena Demwe

Prayagraj Power

Source: Finance Ministry

KSK Mahanadi"

4·8

~~'!':l':'1~"'~'rk,~~ii.!..t~.;~~Govt Approvals 7Finance 6,Design change 6Gre~n~ 5Fuel 2Land 1.

16

Green nod 1Finance 2Design change 4.

'~~'il"7'l!~~~pr~~::~~.ljJJliU!~'Jhlr.,i.:.".I"".,,,,,!ii'<Land 4·Finance 2Green/Mining 2Weather l

146321

12,87918,000 Laiitpur Power

10,780Coastal Andhra Power1l,848

17,451Coastal Gujarat 17,024 ElectrosteelAdani Maharashtra" 16,500 . East Coast Energy'Total worth of delayed projects; "Based on announced capacity at Rs5cr/MW

move the hurdles, experts sayit may not be sufficient.

"What we are doing ispatchwork, which will notwork," said Vinayak Chatter-jee,chairmanof Feedback In-frastructure, a consultingfirm in which biggies L&T,IDFC and HDFC are also sha-r ders.

The bi est hold-up hasbee 1 in the pOWersecfbf-(R§~l1Ci'OillJOlrowed~--roaas Rs 1.23crore) ana SteeL

o\lerRs3~,~0-Crore). -- --

Even flagship projectslike re ulira=IDegapowerprojects slicnas-S-asan-a-ndC6-asfiir-Andhra have beenITem-up, although they werebid out ostens2Q1y,fith all ap-provals in place. •

@n.alysis of~~ f9E.thep~r _projects, including afew linked to transmission,shows that they have been hithard by the delay in environ-mental and forest clearances,with as many as 37 projectsbeing stuck for lack of ap-

9,5628,032

provals, Ina few cases, like inTamil Nadu and Jharkhand,state agencies have held upthe green clearances. Interms of value, the cost ofthese projects adds up to astaggering Rs 1.92lakh crore.

(The ot~ri!iEal factorhob5rrilgthe power sectorseems to be the availability offLlel-coaTaswellas gas. AsITIai1Y as 31 projects are heldup with the proposed invest-ment pe~ at around Rs 1.4lakh crore. \

.•... - ._-...

~ronuteS'ttrIi3trtithollow,• •water crisis worsens

SOHINI GUHAROY I DCBENGALURU, MARCH 20

Summer has just set in butthe water crisis is spread-ing its tentacles across thecity. For citizens, thenightmare has begun.

Some parts of EastBengaluru, Adugodi andKoramangala 3rd Blockhave been struggling withan acute water shortagefor the last few days.

The residents of Adugodicomplain that they havenot been getting enoughwater, forcing them todepend on tanker water.The cost of water fromeach tanker is at least Rs.400. If this is the situationnow, even before the onsetof summer, we cannoteven imagine the kind ofcrisis that will prevailduring peak summer,bemoaned citizens.

Though the BWSSB hasbeen making tall claimsthat the water needs of thecity will be met, the situa-tion has not improved atall. Many areas goparched during summer.Though the Cauvery 4thstage phase 2 has been

Though the CaUV(H'Y'4th stage phase 2has been lfl.mgurat~ed bytlie govern-ment to get about200 Million Litre perDay (Mlr)) and toslake the thirst ofparched rlZ!sit:il:!nl:s,the hasnotl;)lctm atkl!'<;s$th:J:

inaugurated by the gov-ernment to get about 200Million Litre per Day(MLD) and to slake thethirst of parched resi-dents, the problem has notbeen addressed.

Mrs Sahana Reddy, resi-dent of Adugodi com-plains, "It has been thesame scenario for the last

two years. Every summer,we have to face a watercrisis and this year is noexception. We don't knowwhether the problem islimited to Adugodi orexists in other parts of thecity as well."

Another resident ofKoramangala 3rd Block,Vikash Gowda, says, "Wehave always been anunfortunate lot inBengaluru as our areafaces water and electricityproblems every year andthis year too, it has beenno exception."

However, T.Venkataraju, BWSSB .Engineer-in-Chief, claimsthat there is no major'problem.

"The water problem inthe city is perhaps due tothe technical glitchesrelated to pipeline andnetwork issues in someareas, which are beingworked on. We haven't gotany major complaint asyet in this regard. It's justthe onset of summer; weassure people they will notface any water problemsthis time," assured Mrvenkataraj~

7 \ \ 3 \ t) "IrH: rll(\! 91.1

Ministry to move EGoMon gas price poolingSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Petroleum andNatural Gas Ministry has de-cided to move a note, for theconsideration of the Empo-wered Group of Ministers(EGoM), seeking pooling ofprice of imported and domes-tic gas and, also, a change ingas allocation priority. Themove comes following de-mands made by the powersector, ill view of the contin-ued shortfall of domestic gassupply from Reliance Indus-tries Limited (RlLi-ownedKG D6 block and nearly240lJO MW of gas projects ly-ing idle due to non-availabil-ity of gas. In its previousdirections, the EGoM had ac-corded top priority to fertiliz-er plants for receipt of natural

. gas from the KG-D6 fieldsLPG extraction units wereplaced at second, followed bythe power sector at numberthree.

Equal priorityPrivate power producers,

led by Anil Ambani of Re-liance Power, G.M. Rao ofGMR Group, G.V. K. Reddy ofGVK Group and Madhusud-

hau Rao of Lnnco, had metPetroleum ancl Natural GasMinister M. Vecrappa Moilyand Planning CommissionDeputy Chairman MontekSingh Ahluwalia and pointedout that 15,000 MW of gas-based plants were getting gassupplies from domestic fieldsfor less than 10 per cent oftheir oper~ting capacity,making their own operationsunsustainable. They had de-manded that fertilizer <\\1(1

power sectors be given equalpriority in terms of supply ofgas. They had also suggestedaveraging the price or domes-tic gas with costlier importedgas to make fuel more allor-dable for power plants. "ThePetroleum Ministry has to goby the decision of the EGoMregarding allocation and pri-ority for supply of gas. OIlC

way to change the same is toconvene a meeting of EGoM.The EGoM is being convcnot]to consider the issues raisedby power producers. Scarcityof gas is a great. problem, andthe EGoM headed by Defem:eMiniste\' A.K. Antony will dis-cuss the note moved by theMinistry," Mr. Moily toldjournalists here.

..

/ .'.".«. ~~.:.,.>.r ,,"

All SMilES I Minister for petroleum and natural gas, Mr M. Veerappa Mollyshakes hands with Mr Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Anil

Dhirubhai Ambani Group, at a meeting in Neyv Delhi on Wednesday to discuss issuesof gas availability for gas-based power plants: ' - PTI

Oilminwillask'EGoM tosupply gas to powercosDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 20

For 15,000 MW ofplants, the powercompanies aregetting g~ssupplies at lessthan 10%:of theircapacity:

The petroleum ministrywill move a note to anempowered group of min-isters (eGoM), to changethe priority list for alloca-tion of natural gas asmany power plants arefacing the possibility of ashut down due, huge short-age of the. fuel. Thesepower plants involve aninvestment of around Rs 1lakh crore.

The ministry will alsopush for pooling the priceof imported and domesticgas. Representatives ofprivate power producers,which include AnilAmbani of ReliancePower, GM Rao of GMRgroup, G V K Reddy of theGVK group andMadhusudhan Rao ofLanco separately metwith the petroleum minis-:

ter M. '.:Ve~~~p~aMoilYand planning commissiondeputy 'chairman MontekSingh Attluwalia' toexpress 'concetns overshortage of gas. for thepower plants.. .

These power, producersinformed the. government 'that 15,OOO.i;MWof gasbased plants are gettinggas supplies at less than 10per cent of their operatingcapacity from domesticfields. This is ",making'·their operations unsus-

tainable. Also around 8700MW of Hew gas basedcapacities are strandedwith no gas available forcommissioning of theirplants, After the meetingMr 'Mcilysaid the powerproducers suggested giv-ing power and fertiliserequal priority so that thecurrenf available gas isequally distributedamong them.

"Our ministry has to go i

by the decision of theEGoM regarding alloca-tion and priority for sup-ply of gas. One way tochange the same is to con-vene a meeting of theEGoM. I have agreed toconvene the meeting toconsider the issues raisedby them," said Mr Molly.The power companies arefacing gas scarcity due tofall in the output of gasfrom the Reliance's KG D6gas fields. ,,/:

J

'/ DeccCL" k~~

Bescom staffto selectbest achieverby ballotBANGALORE, DHNS: In an ef-fort aimed at ensuring equityand fair play, Bangalore Elec-tricity Supply Company(Bescom) has taken to a novelway of empowering its employ-ees to pick their 'best achiever'through ballot.

The move is part of an ini-tiative to encourage competi-tive spirit among the employ-ees. While, March 15saw a trialrun of the "reviewingfacility,"over 12,000 Bescomemployees from BangaloreCity, Bangalore Rural, Kolar,Tumkur, Chitradurga, Devan-gere, Ramanagar and Chikka-ballapura, will cast their voteson April 3 to choose the bestamong them. Each employeecan cast three votes using on-line facility or sending rues-ages through mobile. The

three votes will be for choosingbest achiever in senior, samelevel and junior level officers.There is no provision for ballotpaper submission.

There are eight circles underBescom and at every circle lev-

I el, meter reader and another: other lower cadre employee

will be chosen and awarded.Junior engineer and cadresabove them will be chosen atBescom level.

Explaining the process,Bescom Chief Administrator(Consumer Affairs) Anand

, Nayak, said following loopholesin mobile message methodwhere instances of double vot-ing was found, and to curb fakevoting, each employee was pro-vided with a code while voting."This will ensure transparencyand encourage competitivespirit," he added.

Bescom normally selects itsbest achiever-gauging employ-ee's contribution through con-sumers' feedback and othercompany's appreciation. Theachievers are felicitated withgold medal and cash prize ofRs 10,000, silver medal andcash prize of Rs 5,000 andbronze medal with certificate.

()NfJr pl/lt>~113 .

~hobha Karandlaje takes a dig at eMDNA Correspondent •• @DNA

Hubli: "The cabinet meetingheaded by chief minister ja-gad ish Shettar approved itKPTCLtender of~2,400 crorejust to favour Tata company,Just moments before theelection dates were an-nounced," alleged IqP leaderShobha Karandlaje.

Speaking to reporters inHubli on Wednesday,Shobha, said theapproval flout-ed rules,and didnot

take into consideration theopinions of officials in the fi-nance and power depart-ments. •

"The tender was passedWithout a debate. If it was foral1 emergency purpose like toaddress the drinking water orpower scarcity, we wouldhave welcomedit," she

added. Suspecting massive fi-nancial irregularities in thetender, Shobha said manyministers were unaware ofthe issues tabled in the cabi-net. Criticising Shettar, shesaid he created a record ofsorts by

convening three cabinetmeetings in aweek.

Shobha also added the IqPwould release the first list ofcandidates after the parlia-menatry committee meetingto be held on Thursday.

inbox@dnaindia.net.r>

-~~iI" __

- :.9i{CiiJ)-I\l-T~:u:r:-;;o:-b~

RTPSunit I ~resumesgenerationRAICHUR, DHNS: Power gen-eration in unit I of the RaichurThermal Power Station (RTPS)resumed on Wednesday. Pro-duction of electricity in unit Iand IV had been suspended ascoal of poor quality was beingused and there was short cir-cuit in the boiler.

Unit IV will resume powergeneration on Thursday, RTPSsources said. Unit VIII, whichhad been shut down a monthago due to technical glitches,will also resume electricity pro-ductior, on Thursday. The unithas a production capacity of250 MW. A total of 950 MWof power is being produced perday from all the units of RTPS

i at present.

V::~-:::--~----f)i~----~-.-------p:-:--~--i-iO-:L------------------------------------p

rartton Towers gets fire dept NOCBAN GALORE: Carlton Towersisone step closer to opening itsdoors to businessas it has finallyobtained a no objection certifi-I cate (NOC) from the Depart-ment of Fire and EmergencyServices,

The Carlton Towers tragedyhad claimed nine lives on Feb-ruary 23, 2009. All the nine

I were said to have either diedi due to asphyxiation or JumpedI to death. "We have compliedwith all the rules and regula-

I tions which have been pre-scribed by the State govern-ment. We havein factgone overand beyond what was requiredand have a 150 per cent com-pliance," said Joseph TI10mas,spokesperson of Carlton Tow-ers Owners Associa tion(CTOA)

The CTOAhas claimed thatit has ensured that all the ca-bling and wirings, apart from

I the elevators, have all beenchanged and state-of-the-arttechnologyhas replaced the ca-

I bles, which is stated to have

A file photo of CarltonTowers where fire brokeout in 2009.

been the prime reason for thefire accident: The associationhas replaced the cables with anew technology called the buss-bars which distributes power.

"The previous system led tothe cables catching fire and thesmoke getting tunnelled intothe seventh floorofthe buildingthrough the ducts. Now wehave replaced them with thebussbars which are expensive,but effectivelyreplace the cable

mechanism," said thespokesperson.

Projecting the building as be-ing more safer than most othercommercial properties in theCity, the CTOA states that theentire building is as new as itcan get. "We have spent hugeamount ofmoney on refurbish-ing the entire building, but ithere still appears to be some ielements which are trying to Iscuttle the entire efforts of ICTOA to get the building up I

and running," Thomas said.Deputy Director (Adminis-

tration) Fire and EmergencyServices,DRasheed, confirmed .that they had conducted an in-spection of the building. "Theyhave rectified all lacunae thatexisted when the fire accidenthappened. We have now issuedthem a OC,"he said.

However, the building stilllacks power supply as the Elec-tricallnspectora te isyet to giveits assent to the re-opening ofthe towers.DH News Service

Hike in electricity tariffs lil<elyDNA Correspondent

@DNA

B~ngalore: Come April, theelectricity tariffs may go up by13 paise a unit. This is thespeculation that is doing therounds among power housesincluding Karnataka Electric-ity Regulatory Commission(KERC),Bangalore ElectricitySupply Company (Bescom)and other Escoms.

While the highest tariff in-crease in the last three yearshas been 26 paise, this year,the commission is expected tohold it at 13 paise. Currently,domestic consumers payaround U.3 per unit. Sources

at KERC told DNA that thecommission had received re-quest for 70 paise increase inthe tariff by the Escoms, aspurchasing costs have gone upand the gap in revenue re-mained at ~2,000 crore.

Escoms have also sightedaugmentation of power for as-suring quality as a reason forthe tariff hike.

Bescom had proposed apower tariff hike of 70 paiseper unit, attributing it to fill-ing up the expense-revenuegap of~1,356 perceived for thefinancial year 2013-14.

But officials from KERC,onthe condition of anonymity,said: "Even though every year

'2.1 I} 'I='C~I'-C(Y) 1<" \' (Y\ :.s(en re Sanctions 2 MoreN-plants at KudankulamNEW DELHI: Asengineers race to commission the nu-clear power plant at Kudankulam,the government hasgiven its nod to build two more such units of 1,000 MWeachat the site inTirunelvelidistrict of power-starvedTamilNadu.The Cabinet Committee on Security, at ameeting Chairedby Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,approved the proposal to grant administrative and fi-nancialsanction for buitding units 3&4 at Kudankulamsite, officialssaid.11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111'111111111111111111111111111111111111

the Escoms make proposalsfor exaggerated rates, we haveto scrutinise it and then giveout the verdict, We will reviewit and call for public opinionby January end or Februarybeginning."

The other factors owing towhich they have sought thehike are system augmentationto ensure quality power andmeasures to bring downtransmission and distribution(T&D) losses.

The companies were di-rected to bring down the T&Dlosses to 16%in the earlier tar-iff order. This has now been re-duceclto19%£: -

rnbox@dnaindia.net

~~v ~~t'.J1..A, '-~ :3 ., ~: z : eel clears RIL's block ~ \1 \ I';,

The Cabinet Committee on Investment(CCl) on Wednesday cleared RelianceIndustries' producing KG-D6 block andgas discovery area NEC-25 along with 3other areas where the Defence Ministrvhad either barred oil and gas activity 0;'put stringent conditions on that. In all, 8blocks including RIL's Krishna Godavaribasin KG-D6 block and gas discoveryarea ofNEC-25 in the North East Coastregion, were declared "No-Go" zones forreasons like overlapping with proposedNaval base or being dose to missilelaunching and Air Force exercise area.

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Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, VeerappaMoily shakes hands YJ1ithChairman of the RelianceAnil Dhirubhai Amballi Group, Anil Ambani at ameeting in New Delhi on Wednesday to discuss is-sues of gas availabiliity for power plants I HI ~

............. ~ ~ .

Carlt~To~erS to reopenBangalore: Carlton Towers on Old Air-port Road, which was r~vaged by a firethree years ago killing rune persons, Willreopen soon.

Disclosing this, Carlton Towers Own-ers' Association said the fire and emer-gency services has given approval to re-open the structure. The building nowawaits power conl)ecttvlty, It added.

A fire atop the towers on February 23,2010,had several people jumping from thesmoke-clogged upper floors.

."'~2.:1+C)'(lYL•,,,,,,,.60 BANGALOHE ELECTRICITY SUPPLY COMPANY LIMITEDG:l (Wholly Owned Government 01 Karnataka Undertaking)

••• co"' Tender Notification !IhrQ.l!gh~-1!.!-ocurel{len!J

Invitation for Expression of interest "For providing services of tree pruning staff,Vehicles with drivers along with Tools, Equiprnents for Tree Pruning in oneselected subdivision of each of the 8 circles in BESCOM for 36 months (3years) extendable to 5 years.Enquiry No.: Bescorn/GM(Ele.)/Q,S&S-024/2012-13. Estimated Amount(Rs. in Lakhs) 518.40. Invites are available from: 22.03.2013 to 22.04.201316.00hrs. Last date for submission of invites: Upto 22.04.2013,16.00 hrs.Opening of invites: 24.04.2013, 16.15hrs.The invitation 1 notification 1 documents can be downloaded through the e-procurement portal from the website hJ!Jl:llWVffi&Jl[Q<;_.ki!I!H!!i!l<~Jl(r{j!!,Aspiring participants need to register in the e-procurement portal. Further,participants can take the assistance of the e-procurernent help desk at080-25501216/080-25501217. Sd!-.,

The General Manager (Ele.,),Quality, Standards and Safety,

BESCOM,[For electricity related complaints 1

Call: 080 - 2287 3333 J