Seminar Series III Concludes

North Indian lobby against Kerala Power Projects – Kadavoor

Former Minister Sri Kadavoor Sivadasan in the Valedictory Session 

The former Minister for Power, Sri Kadvooar Sivadasan has alleged that there was every reason to suspect the North Indian industrial lobby behind the agitations against development projects in Kerala. For the hydro electric projects of Kerala this was more evident.

He was inaugurating the valedictory function of state level conclusion of the statewide seminar series on ‘Save energy, save environment’ organized by the Kerala State Electricity Board Engineers Association.

The allegation that hydel projects caused damage to forest was baseless, he said. On the other hand reservoirs only enriched the forest around them. He cited the example of dense forests around the reservoirs of the projects around Poringalkuthu, Pallivasl etc. At Sabarigiri also forests grew denser after the reservoir started collecting water. Damages to forest have to be checked with iron hands, said Mr Sivadasan who was also the Minister for Forests.

The emergence of huge private power plants around the country is commercializing the power sector. Construction of hydel stations in Kerala can be against their interests. They way in which agitations against power projects are organized and the money spent for it are clear evidences of external hands in these agitations.

When Silent Valley project was abandoned we were assured of another huge project of 750 mw at Pooyamkutty; then Poyamkutty has gone and Karappara Kuriyarkutty came in; then Pathrakkadavu, Athirappaly the list goes on. It is ironical that the projects are shelved because of torpedoing from inside Kerala itself.

In Kerala the agitations always win and the people fail. Agitators do not allow taking electricity from outside by preventing line constructions. Kerala’s future will be in darkness if these agitations could not be settled. Swami Vivekanadan’s old observation that Kerala was a lunatic asylum still holds good through unjustifiable agitation against developments.

New attitude  towards development projects needed- Speaker Sri G Karthikeyan

Speaker Sri G Karthikeyan in the Inaugural Session

The Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly Sri G Karthikeyan has said in the inaugural speech in the inaugural session said that the attitude of Kerala society in social matters was surprising. He called for a radical change in the attitude of the citizens the State towards development projects. He said India as a whole was facing acute electricity crisis. 

The President Er Muhammad Shereef

The State President of the association Er Muhammed Sherrif , in his presidential address, has called for public movements to aid adding of infrastructure for growth in the state. Any dampness in growth in power sector would seriously affect the economic growth of the state, he said.

General secretary N T Job

General Secretary Er N T Job explained the grim power situation in the state and that energy conservation initiatives from the students and others can help the situation to a large extent. He said that the association will come forward with more activities with a social commitment

Er K Radhakrishnan

The former Member (Generation), KSEB , Er  K Radhakrishnan in his keynote address said that the call for energy conservation became meaningless when high potential water capable of producing Electricity worth Rs 700 crores or more was allowed to make flood damages and to flow to sea every year, for sake of fancy thoughts or ill motives of a few environmentalists.

Er S K Yesodharan

The former General Secretary of the association Er S K Yesodharan severely criticized the withdrawal of the emergency mobile squad system operated in important cities and towns of Kerala under the Trouble Call Management System. It was very useful to the public and attracted appreciation al the circles.

Er G S Ajikumar

The Chairman of the Center for Excellence in Engineering and Business Administration,  Er G S Ajikumar called for more customer friendly attitude to be inculcated to KSEB procedures and operation before switching over to company form. He advocated more caution while making any reforms in the very sensitive power sector. 

Er Edwin callistus

The State Organising Secretary of the Association, Er Edwin Callistus congratulated the Kollam Unit for the successful conduct of the event

Head of the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, TKM Institute of Technology, Ezhukone, Prof. Mohamed Kassim, Former Chairman of the association Er K N Chandrasekhara Kurupu, District Chairman of the Association Er. S Rajendran, Vice Chairman Er. V K Mani,  Secretary Er B Rajendran, etc spoke.

Eleven teams from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram participated in the seminar. Er J Sudhakaran Nair was the moderator. He expressed his appreciation of the efforts put in by the participants to gather knowledge, to apply their mind and to present them elegantly.