KRRS to protest on Thursday against power distribution licence sought by Tata Power

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. KRRS leader Badagalapura Nagendra (second from right) addressing a press conference in Mysuru on Wedneday (June 17). | Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) has announced State-wide demonstrations on Thursday (June 18) to bring pressure on Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) to reject the application submitted by Tata Power seeking a power distribution licence in the State. Addressing a press conference in Mysuru on Wednesday (June 17), KRRS leader Badagalapura Nagendra said Tata Power, a private electricity company, had applied for a parallel power distribution licence in 19 districts of Karnataka that are already served by State-owned electricity distribution companies. The private company, he said, had allegedly ruined the power distribution system in Odisha, where it had obtained a licence for distribution. A similar application submitted in Karnataka now should be rejected, Mr. Nagendra said. Karnataka’s power sector, with a history spanning nearly 124 years, has established a robust system for electricity generation, storage and distribution. Significant public investment has gone into creating the necessary infrastructure and assets, the KRRS leader said before alleging that Tata Power is now seeking to benefit from these publicly created assets. KRRS, which has been consistently opposing the privatisation of the power sector, said any move to hand over public utilities to private entities would undermine the objectives of Central and State government programmes aimed at rural electrification and universal access to electricity. Not only would electricity supply to agricultural pump sets be affected, but welfare schemes such as Bhagya Jyothi and Kuteera Jyothi for poor households may suffer. The 200 units of free power to domestic connections offered by the State government will also come under a threat while power concessions currently available to small and medium industries would be affected, resulting in a higher burde