Madikeri: The separate Telangana agitation has worsened the power crisis in Karnataka and the state will start buying power from Punjab on Saturday, Energy Minister Shobha Karandlaje said Friday.

‘We have no option other than buying power from other states like Punjab. We will start purchasing 300 MW daily from Punjab tomorrow (Saturday) itself,’ Karandlaje told reporters here, about 250 km from Bangalore.

The Telangana agitation for a separate state has brought Singareni Colieries’ production to a halt and also hit coal supply to Karnataka’s two thermal plants, increasing the state’s power shortage to 800 MW a day.

This has led to unscheduled power cuts in Bangalore and across the state for the last three days.

In the tech-hub, several areas go without power for up to four hours a day, each disruption lasting about an hour.

The tech-hub itself needs over 1,600 MW daily, according to Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) officials.

Karnataka depends heavily on hydro-power with around 65 percent of its requirement of over 7,000 MW daily met by it.