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The Union Power Minister, Shri P.M. Sayeed, today exhorted the State governments to take fresh initiatives in capacity addition. Addressing the Members of the Consultative Committee of Parliament attached to the Ministry of Power, the Minister said that since power was a concurrent subject, States have to join hands with the Centre in reaching electricity to the people. He also sought the cooperation of the State governments in achieving rural electrification targets.
Mr. Sayeed said that during the last one year of the UPA Government, a number of policy initiatives had been taken for support and development of the power sector. These include formulation and notification of the National Electricity Policy guidelines, on competitive bidding for procurement of power and a comprehensive scheme for Rural Electricity Infrastructure and Household Electrification. The Minister also informed the Committee that the Chairman and Members of the Appellate Tribunal have been selected. The final draft of the tariff policy has been prepared after consultation with the State governments regulatory commissions and other stakeholders.
Speaking on power generation, the Minister said that there was a record generation of 587.3 billion units which was more than 100 per cent of the target. He said gas stations could have operated at over 90 per cent Plant Load Factor (PLF) if gas was available. In the event of shortage of gas, the stations could have operated only at about 60 per cent PLF.
Members, cutting across party lines congratulated the Minister for the various initiatives taken for reforms of the sector. Referring to the presentation on Aggregate Technical and commercial losses which was the topic of the discussion today, the Members called for stringent action against theft of electricity. They said there was a need for billing and compliance at utilization level. They also stressed better revenue realization by State Electricity Boards and suggested formation of “information companies” on the lines of “Credit Information Companies” to monitor where losses are taking place.
The Members of Lok Sabha, who attended the meeting, were: (Col). Dhani Ram Shandil, Shri M.M. Pallam Raju, Shri Tek Lal Mahto Shri Abdul Rashid Shaheen and Shri E. Ponnuswamyand Shri K.S. Rao and the Members of Rajya Sabha were: Shri Ramadhar Kashyap, Smt. Sukhbuns kaur.
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