2 p.c. decline in KPTCL's T and D losses

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, AUG. 30. The transmission and distribution (T and D) losses in the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL) have come down by two per cent in the last 18 months.

This was stated by the KPTCL authorities during a presentation at the meeting of the Cabinet on Thursday to review the situation in relation to transmission and distribution losses, the investment made so far, and investment required for system improvement.

According to Prof. B.K. Chandrashekar, Minister of State for Information, who briefed the Press on the meeting of the Cabinet, the transmission and distribution losses 18 months ago were 35 per cent and they had come down to 33 per cent now. The investment on system improvement last year was Rs.700 crores.

Prof. Chandrashekar said saving of one per cent in transmission and distribution losses was equivalent to saving of Rs.40 crores to Rs.50 crores. The target was to accelerate the saving to bring it down to about 18 per cent to 20 per cent in the next two to three years.

As regards installation of meters, Prof. Chandrashekar said the Central Power Research Institute here had examined the tenders and decided on the contractor for supply of meters, and the meters would be fixed for all installations, including irrigation pumpsets, in phases from September 1.

He said he attended a presentation on power reforms by Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka with the Chairman of the Power Sector Reforms Committee set up by the Union Government sometime ago, and his conclusion was that the State was miles ahead of the others in the field. However, the pace of reforms was still to be continued substantially.

To a question, he said the Cabinet had not discussed the issue of revision of power tariff. The Government had to continue subsidy to the KPTCL the till revision was effected.

On the recent notification on promotion of engineers in the Public Works Department, he said the Government had honoured the Supreme Court's decision which had been implemented with ``extreme care'' to avoid any anomaly.

The Cabinet adopted a resolution condoling the death of the Tamil Manila Congress chief, G.K. Moopanar, and observed silence for a minute as a mark of respect to the leader.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Vidhana Soudha South Block in 3 years
Next     : 'No let-up in poaching of elephants around city'