Palemar directs MESCOM to announce load shedding schedule in DK

October 22, 2011

Mangalore, October 22: The issues of load shedding, sand mining and unrepaired roads dominated the progress review meeting of Karnataka Development Programme held at Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat here on Saturday.

Expressing unhappy over the unscheduled load shedding, District in-charge Minister Krishna J Palemar directed the officials of Mangalore Electricity Supply Company to announce its load shedding schedule through media.

He took this step after Mangalore MLA U T Khader complained that people were facing inconvenience due to several hours of unscheduled load shedding in many parts of the district. “The situation is worst in rural areas”, he added.

Countering a MESCOM official's claim that people in the district are facing only one hour of power shut down a day, Mr Khader said that there was no pattern for power cut. In some rural areas the duration of unscheduled load shedding is more than five to six hours a day, he said.

Following the complaints of pending asphalting and concretisation works, the District in-charge minister set a three month dead line before the officials to repair all roads in the district. “All the damaged roads in the district should be repaired by January”, he directed.

The minister also directed the Mines and Geology officials to allow transport of sand in the district by issuing licences to the local sand miners. He also directed them to start issuing licences to extract laterite soil bricks, which was banned by former Deputy Commissioner V Ponnuraj.

Zilla Panchayat president K T Shailaja Bhat presided over the meeting. CEO K N Vijayaprakash was present.

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Why Mangaluru Could Become India’s Next Offshore Wind Energy Hub

News Network

February 3,2026

Dakshina Kannada MP Capt Brijesh Chowta has urged the Centre to give high priority to offshore wind energy generation along the Mangaluru coast, citing its strategic importance to India’s green energy and port-led development goals.

Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha under Rule 377, Chowta said studies by the National Institute of Oceanography have identified the Mangaluru coastline as part of India’s promising offshore wind ‘Zone-2’, covering nearly 6,490 sq km. He noted that the region’s relatively low exposure to cyclones and earthquakes makes it suitable for long-term offshore wind projects and called for its development as a dedicated offshore wind energy zone.

Highlighting the role of New Mangalore Port, Chowta said its modern infrastructure, multiple berths and heavy cargo-handling capacity position it well as a logistics hub for transporting and assembling large wind energy equipment.

He also pointed to the presence of major industrial units such as MRPL, OMPL, UPCL and the Mangaluru SEZ, which could serve as direct buyers of green power through power purchase agreements, improving project viability and speeding up execution.

With Karnataka’s peak power demand crossing 18,000 MW in early 2025, Chowta stressed the need to diversify renewable energy sources. He added that offshore wind projects in the Arabian Sea are strategically safer compared to the cyclone-prone Bay of Bengal.

Calling the project vital to India’s target of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, Chowta urged the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to initiate resource assessments, pilot projects and stakeholder consultations at the earliest.

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