Revanna demands apology from CM, Shobha

BANGALORE: Accusing the BJP government of looting the state exchequer by creating an artificial scarcity of power, former energy minister H D Revanna demanded an apology from both Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and Energy Minister Shobha Karandlage for the present power crisis.He addressed the press here on Wednesday that the saffron party which came to power after promising free power supply to farmers, has not taken tangible measures to augment power generation.Revanna attributed the present crisis to gross mismanagement, lack of understanding, while ruing that the state government was paying Rs. 9 crore daily to the Udupi Power Corporation Ltd for power.Although the state government is drawing 600 MW of power from the UPCL, it is paying for 1,000 MW due to an irrevocable agreement signed with it, he claimed.“The state government is paying a penalty for its failure to draw 400 KV line from the UPCL unit to Bangalore,” he alleged. He questioned the government on its failure to fulfill the promise it had made during elections that it would produce 16,084 MW of power. “Instead of adding a single unit of power in the last three years, the government is resorting to purchasing expensive power,” he said. “The gift of the government was reducing five stateowned power companies into loss-making units.”