The Government of India, the State of Bihar and the DISCOMs of Bihar (North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited, and South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under the Scheme UDAY — “Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana” here on Monday for operational and financial turnaround of DISCOMs. Bihar is the sixth State to have accepted UDAY for bringing about a positive change in the power sector scenario of States. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have already signed the MoU under UDAY for operational and financial turnaround of DISCOMs.
The signing ceremony was held in the presence of the Minister of State for Power (Independent Charge) Piyush Goyal. The MoUs was signed on behalf of Ministry of Power by Dr. A K Verma, Pratyaya Amrit , Bihar’s Secretary for Energy, R Lakshmanan , MD, North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited and Sandeep Kumar MD ,South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited .
With the signing of MoU, approximately 33 per cent of Bihar’s DISCOM debt, i.e. around Rs.1.40 lakh crore, would be restructured. Speaking on the occasion, Piyush Goyal said: “Our focus and our efforts have been that eastern parts of India should progress fast and gets benefits of rapid growth in infrastructure, which over the years has suffered behind the curve of growth..... should benefit from enjoy the fruit of development and rapidly catch up the rest of India. This has been promised and guiding principle of the Government of India and our department have made focused efforts to bring about paradigm change in the Power Sector in Bihar over the last 22 months.” He further said: “I am delighted that the State government rapidly worked to prepare the agreement between the discoms the State government and the centre. All of us stand committed to working as a team India to ensure the benefits of progress..... the benefits of development and growth reach every citizen of the country particularly of the Eastern India .......particularly of Bihar.”
Bihar package
Reiterating his commitment of fulfilling all the assurances made in Bihar package, Mr. Goyal said: “The government stands committed to all the assurances that were made in terms of Bihar package which included a UMPP at Banka for which now a coal mine has also been allotted and cheaper coal given to Barh so that the cost of power reduced nearly by Rs. 2 a unit which includes quickly implementing Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) scheme and Integrated Power Development Scheme so that power can reach every home in Bihar.... who have been remained deprived of electricity for nearly 7 decades..... also rapidly completing the incomplete projects of the 11th and 12th Plan which also need to be completed along with new projects.” Mr. Goyal further informed that 981 MW power from Bhutan has been allotted to Bihar and from Buxar Thermal Power Plant , 1310 MW power will be given to Bihar.
Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Bihar’s Minister of Energy and Commercial Tax, assured that all targets given in the MOU will be achieved. He hoped the Centre would allot more power to the State.
The distribution utilities of the country are reeling under heavy debt burden. As on 30th September, 2015, the outstanding debt of the DISCOMs stood at Rs.4.3 lakh crore. The government launched the Scheme UDAY on November 20, 2015 to bring relief to these utilities from the burden of debt and to improve their overall performance. – ANI
“Our focus has been that eastern parts of India should progress fast and gets benefits of rapid growth in infrastructure”
