Govt to speed up rural electrification plan; ramp up power generation

NEW DELHI: The government will speed up its rural electrification programme and will try to achieve the target of Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) by March 2010, said power minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday after assuming charge of the ministry.

The ministry will also work towards curbing aggregate and technical (A&T) losses and plan a road map to achieve the open access goal.

The Congress election manifesto had promised prioritised action on rural electrification and reduction in power distribution losses. The government has its task cut out: it will have to electrify more than 63,000 villages in less than a year to achieve the RGGVY target.

The power ministry expects higher allocation in the Budget 2009 for ramping up power generation. "We would ask for higher budgetary support for power generation and ambitious programmes such as Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (APDRP) and RGGVY," said Mr Shinde. The total power generation capacity in the country is around 1,47,000 MW, and capacity addition of around 78,500 mw was conceived in the XIth Five-Year Plan.

"Over 77,000 MW power generation capacity will be added during the current Plan period, as per the department's projections. However, we later realised that it would be over 92,000 mw. If we add another 12,000 mw captive power generation capacity, the capacity would be over 1,00,000 MW during the 11th Five-Year Plan," added Mr Shinde.

Addition of new power generation capacity was below expectations during the first two fiscal of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), as only 14,000 MWcould be added. However, the power minister said that this was on expected lines. "The results are visible after some time, as setting up a power project takes 3-4 years," said Mr Shinde.