Other States
-
New Delhi
More power sought
By Our Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI, DEC. 11. The Delhi Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dikshit, today met the Union Power Minister, Mr. Suresh Prabhu, and apprised him the reforms undertaken by the Delhi Government in the power sector. She also sought 300 MW of additional power allocation from the Central pool to cope up with the demand during winter.
Accompanied by her new Power Minister, Mr. Ajay Maken, and senior DVB officials, Ms. Dikshit informed that by February 28, 2002, the distribution of power in the Capital would be handed over to the private sector. She apprised Mr. Prabhu of the progress made by the DVB towards privatisation. She informed that the parties had been short-listed and all the formalities are likely to be completed by mid-February. Ms.Dikshit said Delhi had learnt from the experience of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and till now the process had been smooth.
She also mentioned that all steps had been taken to ensure job security for the DVB staff, including cadre option. The Chief Minister pleaded that the arrears piled up by DESU till 1997 should be taken care by the Centre. For the rest of the arrears, a separate holding company was being formed. The officials also made a presentation to Mr. Prabhu on the road map to privatisation, and felt that after two years, the situation will change for the better.
Mr. Ajay Maken said an additional 300 MW had been sought from the Central pool to meet the winter demand. The Delhi Government, he said, was equipped to meet demand up to 2,700 MW but beyond that, it would have to draw from the Central pool. This shortfall is expected to be made up from the Western Grid for which talks were in progress. The Northern Grid, which supplies around 1,800 MW of power to Delhi, would not be able to spare more power as it faces a deficient situation because of snow in the hills which reduce the generation capacity.
Mr. Maken said while all efforts are being made to augment the transmission and distribution system in the Capital, proposals were in the pipeline for augmenting the generation capacity of the Board. In this direction, he said around 110 MW would be made available from the 330 MW Pragati Power Project coming up in the Capital. This project, the foundation stone for which was laid by Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, last summer, is expected to be commissioned in the first stage within record time. This would probably be the first generation project in the Capital for the past two to three decades.
Mr. Prabhu said that all eyes were on Delhi as the entire country was keenly watching the privatisation of power in the Capital. He said the success of power reforms in Delhi would send a positive signal to all the States. At the same time, he promised that the Centre would extend all possible help to ensure that this process is completed successfully.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Other States
|
