State Budget 2016: Petrol, diesel, soft drinks, cable TV,liquor to IJe dearer.:

Sid taxesall classesf/.

BENGALURU:Monthly budg­et of every household is setto take a hit from April 1asChief Minister Siddaramaiahon Friday proposed hikein tax rates on a number ofgoods and services inBudget 2016-17.

With this, petrol, diesel, softdrinks, cable TV subscription.lease and rent agreements ofproperties, private transportand liquor will become dearer.

The Budget is bound 10pinch families and individualsof all income groups alike.Petrol and diesel prices will goup by Rs 1.89a litre and Rs 0.98a litre respectively as the salestax on them has been in­creased. This has touched araw nerve as sales tax on fuel isamong the highest in the state.

Indian Made Liquor (IML) .and beer will cost more as Ex­cise duty and Additional Exciseduty on IML have been hikedsubstantially. Besides, rnotorve­hicles tax on private transporthas been enhanced. The chiefminister isexpecting to mop upadditional Rs 2,300 crore rev- 10tap all revenue' sources II) [llienue from the increased taxes, his kitty. He. at the same time.

The chief minister, who pre- has tried to gratify the poor andsen ted the budget in the Leg- the middle class by loweringislative Assembly al Vidhana taxes 011 a dozen items (see thl'Soudha, appears to have tried .,Iist) like nilli/jowar nllti nnd

• Diesel (by 0,98 paise/f)" Soft drinks (minimum of Re 1per200 ml bottle)

• Beer (From Rs 7 to 9 per 650 ml bottle)

.. Liquor (Minimumof Rs4 for 180 ml bottle)

• Cable TV subscription

• Private bus transport

• Agreement of sale on movable property

• vanett-s of chatnipudi

• LEDbulbs • Set top boxes for TV

• rowar & ragi roti • Helmets • Cottc

• Aluminium household utensils (exceppressure cookers & cutlery)

• Office files made of caper/paper hoar

• ~jurgid!1gowns. masks, caps am, .apEot single use made of non-woven fabric!

• Pulse Mission to come Ifor increasing production

• Women EmpowermentPolicy

• Govt to celebrate Ma­haveer Jayanthi as statefunction

• Spirulina for malnour­ished children

III Economy orders relaxed r: .to fill up 30,000 vacancies in JHyderabad-Karnataka ? ,: .region

II Setting up of KarnatakaState Agrl(ultL!re & Farmers

• Setting up of MM \{al­aburgi Rese,vch (etilre atKamataka UT'iversily

II CorPOration '0'

Yett IratlOie g. ucoer Bhadra _-''''''''~''''''i>'!''':~'",'' . ,~ i8;;_I;~ ,.' ;"'." f : I v v t , 1<1-' . ',;;.' .....",.~., ,.. ,. . - .\,' ,.

q hL'fT1C'( <u.h as AI111>1 Bhazynand Krishi Hhagya.

Though the State economy isin the doldrums with GrossState DOll1estic Prodll,·t nos('­diving to ;;.2% in 20.15 IGfmlll

1.8'\,the previous veil!',Siddarmaiah has cOlltim;ed to dole 0sops 10 the Ahinda (Karma.acronym for minorities, B(and dalits) calIse,.»State budget, PagE.

"alurcan, '", i;Hhel' major '_lllv I '111lL>I,ii,As much as i{,·1)22 <TOle h;\.(been allocated for inirasllll(lure develo!lllll'll( ill tlli' Still<capital.

hclmcrs. But the n.'\'c'11l1e I, '1,,11due to the reduction in [:1\ 1,marginal compared to what Ill'has planned to raise throughlax hikes. The budget has. hi111'­ever, brought cheers to Ben

'Ill .um.n hl,d t..rurban de­vrluprm-nt, which IS 1% morethun the rUITt,'IlI \\';11''s alloca­tiOll. lIe has dcslS1<'L1froIll all­nouncing any IllUl'e popillist

~--------~==========~~=--=.=-=...~=.~='=--~.-

~ ..

~/POWER

POWER DEPT SHORT-CHANGED;WAITS FOR PROPOSED PROJECTS

TeamTOI

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r-I--'i1e assembly suffered apower outage on Fridaywhen chief ministerSiddaramaiah was pre-

~ '.. senting the state budget,prompting an opposition leader tosay it was a bad omen and sign ofthings to come.

At a time when the state is facingsevere shortage of power generation, the budget allocation for theenergy department lias been re­duced to H2,632 crore from n2,87!Jin 2015~16.Besides, the eM did notmention any fund allocation forpurchasing power either in the

short-term orlong-term. It'sambiguouswhether thegovernment·will pr ov id efunds to tide

over the present power crisis.Instead, Siddaramaiah seemed

to be banking heavily on proposedprojects to start on time.He said hisgovernment has evolved a plan toadd about 2,655.40MW power, whichincludes 800 MW from Yeramarusunu.n.705.40MW from central gen­erating stations and 1150 MWs fromrenewable sources of energy

He further said the governmentwould add 800MW from YeramarusUnit-I and 350MW from renewableenergy sources by the end of thecalendar year, Work on a gas-basedpower plant at Yelahanka is alsounder progress.

He has focussed on long-termprojects to tide over the power

'~n" in Karnataka, including,~~ nark in Pavaga-

UGHTS OIlT: The assembly plunged intodarkness even as eM Siddaramaiah wasshedding light on financial allocations for2016~17during his budqet speech onFriday, The power went at L35pm andcame back after two to three minutes,leaving the government-battling anelectricity crisis-embarrassed

da. The project proposed at InvestKarnataka will take at least two tothree years to be completed. Thesolar park is expected to start gen­erating 600 MW by 2017.

On saving power, Siddaramaiahsaid the government has decided toimplement a new LED ~f'l)eme, un­der which 421akh LED )S wouldbe distributed to consumers.

Electricity playshide and seek,leavesCM's

team red-faced·1n a major embarrassment to the

government, a power OUUJgein themiddle of the budget speech left

the assembly in darkness for two tothree minutes. What followed werestrong reactions from both sides,While opposition MLAs found re­newed enthusiasm to taunt the eM,energy minister OKShivaknrnar wasquick to order suspension of the en­gineers responsible for the rness.Itall happened when Slddararnai­

ah started reacting out his govern­ment's achievements, The powerwent off at l.35pm and the membershad to wait tlll1.40pm to see the rayof light again.

Bescom MD Pankaj Kumar Pandeysaid it was due to an internal faultwithin the Soudha where buildingworks were being carried out.

BJP MLA Basavaraj Bomrttai sar­castingly suggested the eM shouldhave consulted tis friend lID Revannaabout Rahu Kalarn (inauspicioustime). Jagadlsh Shettar and GovindKarjol too joined, saying ellen thepower was fed up with his ..tihinspir~ing speech,"

-,J

~ CLeM.-\. ~\.<-l.,..Q_, I'l) sllJ..

udget '16: More tax, some bhagyaBHASKAR HEGDE IDCBENGALURU,MARCH 18

~k less beer and coke,Vp a watch on the fuel'..gauge in your car, eat morejowar rotis. And be preparedto shell out more to yourcable operator. That in alighter vein, sums up ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah's11thState Budget, which hepresented in the Legislatureon Friday amidst a shockingpower blackout.Soft drinks, petrol and

.' diesel are set to becomecostlier. Mr Siddaramaiahhas upped the ValueAddedTax (VAT)on aerated andcarbonated non-alcoholicbeverages from 14.5 percent to 20 per cent, sales taxon petrol from ~6 to 30 percent and made diesel cost­lier by three per cent.Entertainment tax too has

~, been hiked.For the agriculture sector,

which has witnessed twoconsecutive droughtsresulting in a fall in foodproduction, the chief minister announced the cre­ation of SpecialAgriculture Zones on thelines of Special EconomicZones (SEZs) and FarmersWelfare Committees to

•

redress grievances. It wasjust not enough for therural community, whichhad expected him to 'do aJaitley' and COMeup withmajor announcements toalleviate farmers' misery.Orten accused of ignoring

north Karnataka, the CMexempted Jowar Roti, thenat lve food of the region,from VAT.'I'I.ere were no big

Bhugyas coming the way ofth« poor this time.I:<'"rtipplers, this is a

budget they might like tofoi Jet in a hurry with theexcise duty on Jndian MadeLiquor (IML) raised fromt4tl to t50 and the duty onbeer up t5 to no.With the IT City becom­

in!4 heavily polluted, MrSutdaramaiah decided todo his bit to clean up the airby fully exempting electricvelucles.. considered eco­friimdly;from taxes.I)isappointing

was the GrossDomestic Product in ~015-16 which grew at 6.2% asajainst 7.8% in 2014-15.;\s for the power cuts -

three seconds first and 95sueonds iatsr-Bescommoved swiftly suspendingthe engineer in charge.

•• liM .~':~~~laerated and carbonated'

• Increase of ratl! of tax on non-alcoholicbever- '"l[~':::::=.. 11:i,~1!~=~• SettIng up Of iIttWI ralWq .' bus tickets, property

scheme along with the registration,DTHand cableTVGovernment of lndia, while services,state goyentlMnt will ini­tially eaJ'!'ll8rkUOO CI'OI'1I

• AnAviationDe'ielopmentCellwill be set liP to facili­tate development ofairstrips and operation ofnon-scheduled flights

• SettIng lIP of sreCW :{Agricultural Zcns will be. done in different.parts of thf ',state on the 11nt!$!)f SpedaI •...konomlc Zones

• Allocationof n,609 crorefor development of ruralroads and to improve ruralconnectivity

. translldrtlrta('non-transport.' .',electric .v~~lcles,.••."'..1iII.rt:··"fLED bulbS;0'"helmets,multi-

rfaimg=iimes for the middle classPetrol, diesel, soft drinks, liquor, entertainmentand cable services, among others, to cost moreNAG~HP"'HU /I ' r~"~:-----BENGALURU: Middle class con- Rs. 0.98 a •sumers need to brace them- litre and petrol priceselves for more expensive by Rs. 1.B9 'days as Chief Minister Sidda- a litreramaiah's budget levies moretaxes on petrol, diesel, trans­port vehicles, soft drinks, li­quor, entertainment and cableservices to mobilise revenueto fund populist schemes an­nounced in his past budgets.

With no elections round thecorner, Mr. Siddaramaiah re­frained from announcing newpopulist schemes. While theCII called it a "well balancedbudget", the Bangalore Cham­ber of Industry and Com­merce described it as a "mixedbag".

Key proposals for the in­dustry include reduction ofVAT from 14.5 per cent to 5.5per cent on some productsproduced by the small andmedium industry. Proposalstargeted at startups, the IT FACT SHEETsector and to boost investorconfidence also featuredprominently.

There was not much of aboost for agriculture as therewere no major schemes to ad­dress the rural distress in thebackdrop of a spate of farmersuicides and drought in theState. However, the budgetdoes bring relief to big farm-ers, planters of coffee, tea, rub­ber and other plantation cropsas it abolished agricultural in­come tax.Presenting the 4th budget

of the Congress, overall hisllth, in the Legislative As­sembly here on Friday, the CM

largely focussed on strength­.ening and expanding severalpopulist schemes, which wereannounced three years ago af­ter the Congress staged acomeback in May 2013.

The budget showed a reve-

nue surplus of Rs. 522.01crore,which isA3 p.c. lower than thecurrent fiscal (2015-16). Fiscaldeficit is expected to be Rs.25,657 crore, which is 2.l2 p.c.of Gross State Domestic Prod­uct (GSDP). The GSDP grew

/

An Assembly personnel assisting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah read his budget speech 0

There were power disruptions twice during the course of the Chief Minister's speec_ PHOTO:V.SREENIVASAMURTHY (REPORTON PAGE6)

Theestimated size .of budget for '.2016-1715 '

Rs.l,63,419. 'crora"

~ Service sector contributes 64per cent, from 59 per cent earlier.The contribution of manufacturingsector gone up by 3% to 15% tothe GSDP

~ Agricultural growth \ ~ The State's contribution todips from the country's GDP up from14% to 8% of GSDP 5.5 % to 7 %

~ Pravasi BharatiyaDivas at Bengaluru inJanuary 2017

~Rs.500 crorefor new Skill Developmentand LivelihoodDepartment headedbyCM

~ CM special grant to Bengaluru

Rs.5,000 crore

'JWomenEmpowermentPolicy to belaunched

~ Biotech incubator in Bagalkot, 10 new incubators ineducational institutions across the State

at the rate of 6.2 per cent asagainst 7.R p.c. during the pre­vious year, primarily owing toslowdown in agriculture.The contribution of the

agricultural sector to GSDPdeclined from 12p.c, to 8 p.c,

• RELATED REPORTS IPAGE54, 6& 8

o .c , lot / Cj I I,' IIf·kJ'Jfj It}I Gas power plant.' at Yelahanka

Bengaluru: Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah has

announced that the work ofestablishing a gas based

power plant at Yelahanka inthe city will be started dur­Ing 2016-17,which expectedto bring relief to the city's

power shortage. In hisbudget speech,

Siddaramaiah announcedthat next year 2,655.40 MWwill be added to the state'spower capacity. This would

include 800 MW fromYeramarus Unit II, 705.40

MW from CentralGenerating Stations andnso MWs from renewable

sources of energy. Anothermajor announcement made

was that in order toimprove ease of doing busi­

hess and improve trans­parency, the submission ofapplication with regard to

power sanctions, powerevacuation, open access,

clearance by ElectricalInspectorate and approval

for power projects will haveto be done online.

"Necessary web basedmodules will be developedand deployed shortly," the .Chief Minis~nnoun~

./

.. ~ n.dJ:.0J1._ t>L.f

For Power, StateBan~sontheSunExpress News Service

TIe state, which is once ag~t; staring a~.a powerrisis is hopirig to add electricity production capac-tv of~ut 2,6SS-4oMW, including 800MW fr?m

Yeramarus Unit II, 705,40MW from central generatingstations and 1150MWfrom renewable sources of ener-

gyTIns is apart from the expected addition of 800MWfrom Yeramaras Unit-t and 350MW,from re~~:eenergy, Workisfinallyexpectedto~onesta, ga gas-based power plant at Yelahanka m the commg yearand bids will be invited to establish 1,320MW Kalabur-agi power plant, , ,About 200MW of solar power capac~tyIS also e~ct­

ed through the projects of Karnataka Power CorporationLimited (KPCL).The drop in per unit cost of solar power,has also en­

couraged the government to opt for establishme~t ~f a2 oooMW solar park at Pavagada in Tumakuru distric~F~omthis park, 600MW is expected by ~e end <;>fMarc2017.Announced last year, this Pr;>jectwill requireabout10 000 acres of land as production of solar energy re­quires about 5 acres ofland per mega watt.The state is also planning to establish solar powerlants in 60 backward taluks of 20MW each. The ~uch­

~ ed Nirantara Jyothi Third Phase Feeder Bifurca­tion ~heme will continue into next year, "Huge expens­es have been incurred for this schem~ and the CAGrepo~had warned about public money bemg spent recklessly,energy expert MG Prabhakar said

Good NewsTo improve ease ofdoing business and improve transpar­ency submission of application with regard to powersanctions, power evacuation, open access, clearan~ byelectrical inspectorate ~nd approval for power projectit.will have to be done online shortly. .

/

./

IBEIJING, PTI: The largest nu­clear security centre in the

IAsia-Pacificregion, jointly fi­, nancedbyChinaand the UStoI train personnel of countries inI the region on protection and

I

control of nuclear materials,opened here onFriday.The centre, constructed by

i the ChinaAtomicEnergy Au­I thority (CAEA)and theUSDe­i partment ofEnergy, is able to! train about 2,000 nuclear-se­I curitystaffforChina and other: nations in the Asia-Pacificre-

I' gioneveryyear,CAEAchairXuDazhesaid.I Construction of the centre,I which is the largest nuclear

I programmetohavedirect Chi­I neseandUSinvestment,beganI inDecember 2013.I TopChinese,US and lAEA(International Atomic Energy

!I Agency)officialsattended to-day'sthe event. .Under the agreement. the

I centre, which is located inFangshan District, Beijing. isrun and administered by Chi­na.whilethe USisresponsiblefor providing nuclear-securityequipment.Accordingto the CAEA,the

sitewillbecomea centre for in­ternational exchanges and co­operation on nuclear security.the demonstrationofadvancedtechnology, testing andanalysing.The centre is a significant

achievement in China-USnu­clearsecuritycooperation,andwill boost cooperation in theAsia-Pacific region and theworld,WangYiren,deputy di-

rector of the CAEAsaid.It will also promote the

peaceful use ofnuclear power,Wang,who isalsodeputyheadof the China's State Adminis­tration ofScience,Technologyand Industry for National De­fencesaid.The two countries have also

cooperated in other nuclear se­curity areas such as low-en­riched reactors, securityof fa­dioactivesourcesand radiationdetection by customs authori­ties. according toWang.The centre came as China is

massively expanding its nu­clear reactor network.China currently has 30 op­

erational nuclear power gen­erating units, with a total in­stalledcapacityof28.31Gw. Italso has 24 units with a total 'instalJedcapacityof26.72GW:1under construction, ranking iifirst in the world. . '1

As planned,China'sinstalled ,Inuclear power capacity will ilreach 58GWwithan additi?n- !;al 30 GW under construction i I

11by2020. III,

_,---

'Power' politics mars budget presentationIBangalore Mirror Bureaubmfeedback@gmail.com

ing the presentation. Pushingthe assembly hall in\o a poolof darkness,powerwent off fora few secondspost noon. A fewminutes later, again the powerwent off for close to fivemin­utes, forcing the CM to stophis presentation. Marshals onduty rushed in with mobiletorches to help the CM goahead with his presentationunder torchlight. The opposi­tion, asifwaiting foran oppor­tunity to pounce on the gov­ernment, ridiculed it andforced the CMand the energy

TWEETS@BangaloreMirror

T~:e:~;~~~~~~e~~:~ation acrossKarnatakawas

up for display to the entire.worldduring the budget pres­entation by CMSiddaramaiah.Hoodwinking the people ofKarnatakaevery time claimingenough power supply,the stategovernment was in an embar­rassing situation when therewere repeated power cuts dur-

\

minister to resolve the prob­lem. Energy minister OKShivakumar was seen ques­tioning energy departmentofficials sitting in the gallery.Several leaders joked andattributed the development tothe CM's decision to choosethe inauspicious Rahukala forpresenting the budget.

Towards the evening,Shivakumar ordered the sus­pensionofengineersatSoudhaon charges of derelictton ofduty. A committee was alsoformed, headed by additional

chief secretary, energy,Ravikurnar, to probe the inci­dent.

Opposition leaders ridi­culed the CM for presentinghis budget during Rahu Kala.That's the reason why thepower went off, they said.They also told him that heshould have brought candles.Opposition leader ]agadishShettar said, "This shows thestate of the government. If theVidhana Soudha can suffersuch an embarrassment, whatto sayof the common~~y

I 'r\lu can pIodge )I>Ur support toEarthHOur by.donati~ )I>UrIF_ timelioe today. Visitwww.changed",1atl!dla!1ge.org andi allow EarthHour to post on )I>Ur behalf. 'r\lur per>onaJ details WlUI not be shared publicly orwitll tlliro parties -)'OtX permISSIOn.I YOl.i:.:an3.lso ~(s:t ':"NW.•::art!lhour.org,/tracker to create a group

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s.,~;lR~'ilH'{)NE /l'"J1NERMANACEM£NT1."or smartphones, youcancut down on displaybrightnessr from the notification area itseJf. Do not opt for the Auto~ption as this requires the built·in ambient light sensor tofunction all the time. Youoould also switch to a neutralcolourprofileor a "reading"mode to cut downon hrightnessand certain colours. Youcan find these optIOnswlthmSettings> Display.

Youcan also confIgurerour phone's powermanagementsettings to extend battery life. Simply choose the pr~fileyou want to use: balanced, perfor_mana:. 0: power savmg.Somephonesprovide de~iled optIonsWlthmeach .of thesewhere you can force the device to :;hut uff moblle data,Wi-Fi Bluetoothwhen the phone is inactive.These tweakswill h~lpin extending your phone's battery life and reduceenergy conslUIlption.

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_%"-' __ -" =1.... . _~'.'.'...'..and. Attero (v,"'l),"N,artero.m!.The formerfor old appliances. where they are then dis- -- . 15a governI?ent.authonzed e·wa~teposed of byfollowing proper s1).Stainabil· fjrecyc1er. whic_haccepts~elecom,eqwp-. ractices Youcan refer to the com· • • ment, wasbmg machines, toner car-:~"s e.wa~te programme from the _ tridges, wires a.nd.cables, C_FLproduct manual (look for the garbage . . .. " tubes, dry celis, lithium battenes,bin logo with the cross on it). Or, look .,,:',1~fJf:~:;!-.Yetc.Attero, ?n,the other harn:l buysfor details in the ·Sustainability' or 'Cor- ·;::;ti¬ ."WusedelectromcItems~ uses l~Own

rate Social Responsibility' sections of .. e-\\'o.stf:>management S)stem toe~tract~e companywebsite. pure .metalsand rare eart~s frome-wa:;temNote: These are not "buy back" schemes. an eco-fnendlyand cost-e1Iectl~emanner.These

services are more suited-for housing societies,offices and educational institutions wherebulk elect-onic and electrical wast~is discardedroutinel~>- Youcan consider selling gadgets·like laptops,phones. televisions,washing machinesand moreto companies like Budli (w...........'.budlt.Ul), ~e.Globe (w\\'W.reglobe.in), Ynew (yneVi.ln),SahiValue (www.sahivaiue.com)and KarmaRecycling (www.r.;3rmarec\'.ding-.in).Thf! pro-cessusually invo\'.'cs yougettlllg;Jnappn)Xlm;llf.· ,\buyback price and the option to request a pick Iup. Ifs that simple. / ..

".-,".~-~ ~~.----- - . '~r-:i;:E' "'lll"r l'........ -..-..-·--'lyH...--..ft·rtty·;·-V J-----.--l 'L- '0-)- -Hr-- ..--' ·..-..·- ·--..---·--------- ·-.. ,-c-cc

eM offers little for power sector-r--- ~ ~ __~ __~~~ __----~~~~~ ___

//

BENGALURU,DHNS:There isnothing much for the powersector in the budget. The ad­dition of power in the cur­rentfiscal (2015-16) men­tioned in the budget is stillon paper as the third unit ofthe Ballari Thermal PowerStation (BTPS)and the firstunit of the Yermarus Ther­mal Power Station (YTPS)are yet to be functional. It isunlikely they will be com­missioned by the end of thismOl'lth.The projects that havebeen

announced in the'budget likethe 320-MWgas-basedpowerplant at YelahankainBengalu­ruaJ.1dthe1,23Q;.MWGulbargaThermal Power Station, 200-MWsolarpowerplantthroughKPCL and the 2,OOO-MWPavagad solar park are not re­allynew.There isalreadyworkinprogressin all these projects.The government has en­

tered into an agreement withthe publicsector majorBharatHeavy Electrical Limited

Easeof businessInan effort to ensure ease ofdoingbusinessand improvetransparency insubmissionofapplicationswith regard topowersanction,power evacuation,open access,clearancebyelectricalinspectorate and approvalforpowerprojects,the processwill bemade online,he said.''The necessaryweb-basedmoduleswill be developedanddeployedshortly,"Siddaramaiahsaid.The budget promisedto provideinfrastructure for 50,000irrigationpumpsets and carry out the third phase of feederbifurcationschemeunder the programme Nirantara Jyothi.Under this, feeder linesofthe domesticand agriculturewillbe separated to provide.uninterrupted POWf'l' try houseeolds.Siddaramaiahannounced to establish77 sub-stationsthrough KarnatakaPowerTransmissionCorporationLimit­ed (KPTCL).This will helpmeet the demand-supplygap.

(BHEL)fQi'thecmbarga 1iher­mal project. "Weare consider­ing whether to take it upthrough the Kamataka PowerCorporation Limited orthrough competitivebidding,"P Ravikumar,additional chiefsecretary of the department,toldDeccanHerald.Similarly,the renewable en­

ergyprojectat Pavagadand the

200-MW sol'arplant throughKPCLwere announced mucheallier, So was the case withthe 1,200-MW solar powerplants in 60 backward talliks.A total of 1,850MWof the

2,483.85-MWthat Siddarama­iah saidwouldbe added bytheend ofthis month isstillon pa­per as the super-critical thirdunit of BTPS (700 MW) and

YTPSfirst unit (800 MW) andrenewable energy of 350 MWare yet to become available.This means only 633.85 MWhavebeen added(268MWpur­chased fromDamodar Corpo­ration Valley and 365,85 re­newable energy which couldvary as it depends on weatherconditions).Siddaramaiah promised to

add 2,655.40 MW more, in­cluding 800 MW from YTPSscco:ldunit, 705,40M\\' fromcentral generating starions.which is basicallypower pur·chased from generators likeDVS and 1,150MW from fe­newableenergy sources.AtotaloutlayofRs12,632C:-~'fewasannounctd for the Erc-e;:-.department. Of this. R, 3 c.,--.~)crore is for powerSll~ld-. nusmeans, onl\' Rs 4.032 J.-.re ISleftforcoveringnon....--:'lp!talex­penditure.that is salanesforthestaffand the newworks."Wewill hardly be leftwith

any money for new projects."an officialsaid.

. .~-.--.---~ ----~-----~-- ..-----.--~--.-- ..--------.....---_ ..".- - --........~----t- ..'

~i~Power pangs and'Rahukala'SPE~lAL CORRESI'ONDE:<T

BENGALURU

Chief Minister Siddara­maiah's budget speech

was interrupted twice ow­ing to power disruptions. Itprompted a House officialto shine a cellphone torchso that he could continue toread. However, the powerwas back in a few seconds.It also evoked varied re­

actions from members ofthe House. In the first in­stance, power was restoredalmost instantly, but thesecond time, the backupgenerator responded a fewseconds late, making a partof his speech inaudible.

BJP leaders lost no timein chiding an agnostic Sid­daramaiah for choosing an'inauspicious' time (Rahu­kala) to present the budget.Y.SY. Datta of the JD(S),however, appreciated theChief Minister for 'not con­fining himself to religiousbeliefs'.

InquiryEnergyMinister D.K.Shi­

vakumar ordered suspen­sion of engineers in chargeof power supply to the Vid­hana Soudha. An inquiry ison to find out why there wasa blackout as theSoudha has twopress power lines.

,655 MW to be added1\-.~i..t.-~)~to grid in 2016-17 /8.S. SA:IISI1 KU,\I,IRBENGALURU

1~,1heState Budget envisag­es addition of 2,655MWto the power grid in 2016-17as part of plans to tide overpower shortage,This includes 800 MW

frr.m Yeramarus unit-Z, 705MW from the Central gen­erating stations and 1,150MW from renewable energysources. The budget alsomade it clear that work onHie gas-based power plantat Yelahanka will start in2016-17and bids for settingup 1,320-MWthermal powerplant in Kalaburagi will beinvited soon. Laying em-

600 MWto beavailable byMarch 2017 fromthe proposed solarpark at Pavagada

phasis on renewable energy,Chief Minister Siddaramaiahannounced the plans of Kar­nataka Power CorporationLtd. to set up a 200-MWsolar power plant. This is inaddition to plans to establish1,200 MW of solar powerplant in 60 backward taluks.

It also indicated that 600MW of power will be avail­able by March 2017from the2,OOO-MWsolar energy park

that would come up at Pavagada in Tumakuru district.As part of measures to im

prove ease of doing busines:and ensure transparency, ihas been decided to makeprovision for online applications for getting new poweiconnection, transmissionand clearance for generatiorprojects etc.

Interestingly, the totaoutlay for the sector has re­duced by Rs:246 crore.Meanwhile, plans have

been announced to instalrooftop solar plants withtotal capacity of 150MW:orthe buildings of thetaka State Warehousiporation.

'."o'Jst<C ',~ 19,' 7(b',f,1~ - g1111 of energy sector's~ 2,632cr VIiII go for subs,dy

, DC CORRESPONDENT, BENGALURU, MARCH 18

Though the Energy D'lillottedover n2 632 epartment has beentowards providi • crore, mo~t.of it has gonegone up to ~8600n;J~::{,SUbSIdIes,which hasBut the ISyear.

: ~ting up ~fve!n:~n\has dannouncedthe set.Yelahanka . ase power plant at

- Gulb • establIshment of a 1320 MW- Plant~ga Power Plant and a 200MW solar'.:t plans to add 2655MWt

~j..tion in the state, with the °d~tPow~r produc­from Yeramarus Unit IT 7a 1 IOn01 800MW

j' Generating Stations and l~~oMMWWfrfomCentral-. able sources.', rom renew-

The state governm t hMW,SOlarplants in 60enbkOpesto set .~,,~P),200. ac WMdtruUk;pt

Ministers Umashree Dr G Parthe Budget session • . ameshwar and O.K.Shivakumar during

-KPN

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