Panel to frame state-specific power policy

new delhi: the recently-constituted deepak parekh committee on power reforms, which had its first meeting last week, has been entrusted with two missions — first, to select geographical zones in every state which will be identified as a single unit where distribution reforms will be facilitated to commercialise operations. second, to evaluate every state at a macro level to frame separate state-specific policy packages and transition period structures. the committee has representatives from states governments, economists, regulatory authorities, industrialists and fis like icici. union power secretary rv shahi told et the idea behind constituting such a committee is to blend the experiences of all the related sectors and work towards a common goal. “it is now understood and appreciated by a large number of sebs that reforms are imminent and the earlier they start off, the better are their chances of getting fresh investments.� mr shahi, who till recently headed bses and who brings with him experience of distribution reforms in orissa, said the committee will submit the first report in a month. though the power ministry and state governments tried to take up reforms under the accelerated power development programme, in many cases, the money allotted was used for other purposes. it is in this regard that the power ministry has now set up this committee which will work in close coordination with the state governments and monitor the disbursal of funds from the recoined accelerated power development and reform programme (apdrp). “the objective would be to reduce the gap between cost of power generated and supplied and the revenue collected and a programme to improve the distribution system,� mr shahi said. this would include measures like installation of metres, upgrading and modernisation of the distribution equipment. on the other hand, in the second task, the committee will take up the evaluation job and mapping of the states in batches. the first few states which would be taken up include haryana, rajasthan, andhra pradesh, karnataka, orissa based on those states which have responded favourable to the reform process. the other states too would be taken up but in following batches. the committee would look into the nature of consumers in the state, the generation patterns, the distribution system etc. it would then draw up state-wise packages which would be tailor-made for each state and also make recommendations both to the centre and the state on the policy requirements.