Low voltage woes in temple town of Kollur will soon be a thing of past

MoEFCC clears 4.93 ha forest land diversion for drawing a new high-tension line for a substation in Kollur

The low voltage issue affecting residents and other power consumers in the temple town Kollur and surrounding villages of Byndoor taluk in Udupi district will soon get addressed with Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd. (Mescom) operationalising a 5-MvA substation at the town shortly.

Kollur, one of the most visited tourist places in Karnataka, and its surrounding villages had been facing the low voltage issue for many years. Residents, tourists as well small-scale industrialists (mainly cashew) were affected by the low voltage problem. While the distribution company (Discom) was supplying power from its Byndoor substation (30 km), it could not augment supply due to capacity constraints.

When it planned a new high-tension (HT) line between Navunda and Kollur via Kambadakone, it faced forest clearance issues as the line passed through 4.294-km stretch inside the Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary. The Discom had sought diversion of 4.93 hectares of forest land for the Kambadakone-Kollur HT line (17.924 km) from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

The MoEFCC on April 29 conveyed its approval to divert 4.93 ha of forest land located in Kalthodu and Golihole villages through a letter addressed to the Additional Chief Secretary of Karnataka Forest, Environment and Ecology Department. The Ministry directed Mescom to raise alternative forest on 9.86 ha degraded forest land, double the quantum of diverted forest land, in Shiroor village of Byndoor taluk.

It also said Mescom should not build any additional or new paths on the diverted forest land. It should provide bird deflectors, which are to be fixed on the upper conductor of transmission lines at suitable intervals to avoid bird hits. The Discom should also raise plantation of dwarf trees beneath the HT lines.

Mescom’s Superintending Engineer of Udupi Circle, Narasimha Pandith, told The Hindu that the infrastructure, including the 5-MvA substation at Kollur and almost but except a couple of kms of the HT line of Navunda-Kollur new line, was already in place.

With the MoEFCC approval for forest land diversion, the Discom would accelerate construction of the new line in the forest area and it should be able to commission the new substation in about a month, he said. The estimated cost of the project was about ₹10.5 crore.