At a time when 12 hours of uninterrupted power supply is a pipedream in some parts of rural Karnataka, the Congress government has mooted an ambitious scheme to provide round-the-clock power supply in 1,260 villages in the next one year.
"We have decided to give these villages 24-hour electricity by declaring them model villages. We will see how it works before extending the scheme to other villages in the state," state energy minister D K Shivakumar said. Under the proposed pilot project, five model villages (with a population of around 2,000 each) would be identified in each of the 224 assembly constituencies and 28 parliamentary constituencies in the state.
The government has already earmarked Rs. 50 lakh for each constituency, he said, adding that it was an independent scheme of the Karnataka government. It is expected to benefit villages with a good bill payment record, minimum power theft and line losses not exceeding 20%, official sources said.
There are 29, 406 villages in the state, according to Census 2011. Currently, most of them get 8-15 hours of supply a day and around 29 villages are still "power-less", including four in Chamarajnagar district, 17 in Uttara Kannada and five in Belagavi, according to energy department of ficials. The minister said the new plan would differentiate agriculture and domestic feeders in the model villages."Round-the-clock power supply can be made in villages by segregating the feeders and checking theft and losses. With this, uninterrupted power with single-phase supply can be given to domestic users and three-phase supply to agriculture and industries, if any," he added.
Shivakumar said under the scheme, LED-based solar street lights would be provided with automatic on-off time switch for dusk-to-dawn operations. With better power supply, the government hoped to improve electricity bill collection in the villages and reduce the accumulated losses of power utilities, he said.Officials also believe 24-hour power supply will discourage villagers from power theft.
However, many are sceptical of the move. K S Vijay Kumar, a former energy department official, said, "Such a scheme doesn't work unless the state becomes energy sufficient and distribution efficient. Though shortage of power has been considerably brought down in the last two years, power generation in state has to increase by another 2,000-3000MW to successfully implement this scheme. For uninterrupted 24-hour power to domestic consumers by separating the feeders from agriculture and industries, infrastructure needs to be created and strengthened and that requires lot of funds."
"We have decided to give these villages 24-hour electricity by declaring them model villages. We will see how it works before extending the scheme to other villages in the state," state energy minister D K Shivakumar said. Under the proposed pilot project, five model villages (with a population of around 2,000 each) would be identified in each of the 224 assembly constituencies and 28 parliamentary constituencies in the state.
The government has already earmarked Rs. 50 lakh for each constituency, he said, adding that it was an independent scheme of the Karnataka government. It is expected to benefit villages with a good bill payment record, minimum power theft and line losses not exceeding 20%, official sources said.
There are 29, 406 villages in the state, according to Census 2011. Currently, most of them get 8-15 hours of supply a day and around 29 villages are still "power-less", including four in Chamarajnagar district, 17 in Uttara Kannada and five in Belagavi, according to energy department of ficials. The minister said the new plan would differentiate agriculture and domestic feeders in the model villages."Round-the-clock power supply can be made in villages by segregating the feeders and checking theft and losses. With this, uninterrupted power with single-phase supply can be given to domestic users and three-phase supply to agriculture and industries, if any," he added.
Shivakumar said under the scheme, LED-based solar street lights would be provided with automatic on-off time switch for dusk-to-dawn operations. With better power supply, the government hoped to improve electricity bill collection in the villages and reduce the accumulated losses of power utilities, he said.Officials also believe 24-hour power supply will discourage villagers from power theft.
However, many are sceptical of the move. K S Vijay Kumar, a former energy department official, said, "Such a scheme doesn't work unless the state becomes energy sufficient and distribution efficient. Though shortage of power has been considerably brought down in the last two years, power generation in state has to increase by another 2,000-3000MW to successfully implement this scheme. For uninterrupted 24-hour power to domestic consumers by separating the feeders from agriculture and industries, infrastructure needs to be created and strengthened and that requires lot of funds."