Saturday, May 7 2005 10:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday (May 6, 2005) assured Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh of all help in tackling the on-going power crisis in the State.

Power Minister P M Sayeed, who was also present during the meeting between Deshmukh and the Prime Minister, said that the Centre has arranged for four MCMD of additional gas - which will give about 700 MW of additional generation, for Gujarat and mainly to Maharashtra to tide over the shortage.

Maharashtra has also been offered 360 MW from NTPC's Kayamkulam plan, which is run on liquid fuel naphtha. Interestingly, the plant is lying idle due to the high price of naphtha.

The Power Ministry is also coordinating with Nuclear Power Corporation to bring the 500 MW Tarapur nuclear plant to the grid within a week. The State would get 125 MW to start with and 250 MW by May 15, Sayeed said.

In the meantime, Centre has also allocated 90 MW to Maharashtra from the unallocated quota, he said.

Sayeed cited closure of Dabhol power plant and nil capacity addition in the State during the last ten years as the main reasons for the current problem and hoped that the steps taken by the Centre would help resolve the problem substantially.