Forget the loadshedding-free Maharashtra that was promised, the state is in the danger of facing its biggest power crisis due to shortage of water, increasing coal prices in international market and disputes between gas suppliers and power projects.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday said that loadshedding in the state may not end by end of this year as was earlier claimed by the government. In fact, existing projects are also struggling to produce electricity up to their full capacity.
“The thermal power stations at Parli and Koradi may have to shut down completely because of shortage of water. Coal is available at these power stations, but there is hardly any water available. At the moment, both power stations are doing minimum production,” the CM said.
The situation at Enron and Dabhol projects is also not encouraging. “At Enron, 600 megawatt power is being produced as against its capacity of 2,200 megawatt. At Dabhol too, there is some dispute between the Dabhol Power Company and Reliance, which supplies gas. Dabhol is also producing 600 megawatt instead of 2,500 megawatt,” he added. The CM also indicated that the state will have to rethink electricity subsidy and cross-subsidy given to farmers. “There is no shortage of power. We can always draw power from other states, but that will come at higher cost. The state will have to reconsider its policy of subsidising electricity. We give `3,500 crore subsidy to consumers in electricity. Besides that, `3,000 crore are spent on cross subsidies given to farmers,” he said.
Maharashtra has been facing loadshedding since 2001. Some rural parts in the state face up to 14 hours loadshedding everyday. The government has time and again set and revised deadlines to make the state loadshedding-free but with no results. The latest deadline of December 2012 was set by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in 2010.
The CM said that the current situation is caused by the unprecedented water crisis in the state. He said that some parts in Marathwada and western Maharashtra are facing water shortage. The government is planning to divert water from dams in other parts to the drought-hit areas. However, such a move is likely to face severe protests from locals.
Recently, the government released water from Nashik and Ahmednagar dams for Jaikwadi dam in Marathwada. However, there were protests in Nashik.