Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has favoured a comprehensive energy policy at the national-level that will enable supply of quality power to all sectors across the country.
Such a policy is necessary as the country was unable to utilize even half of the total installed capacity and several areas continue to reel under darkness with power cuts becoming the order of the day, the Chief Minister said. There was need to change the situation in the interest of the people.
The Chief Minister made these comments during his interaction with Chairman and Managing Director of the Power Finance Corporation Rajiv Sharma who called on him on Sunday. The PFC chairman visited some power plants and the prestigious Kaleshwaram project during his three-day stay in the State. The PFC chairman appreciated the State Government for sticking to the time lines in the completion of the prestigious Kaleshwaram project for which the corporation had extended financial assistance. He recalled that the Chief Minister made a presentation to him three years ago about the benefits that would accrue with the project and a major portion of the works were completed as per schedule.
ADVERTISEMENT
Power scarcity
Mr. Rao explained how Telangana started its journey with serious power crisis facing the State adversely impacting the developmental processes. The government had therefore focused attention on evolving a comprehensive roadmap to mitigate the power crisis and was able to bring back normalcy within six months of the formation of the State. The State was able to supply quality power to all sectors thanks to the proactive approach it had adopted.
Telangana was the only State in the country which was supplying 24-hour power to agriculture sector free of cost while industries sector was functioning in three shifts with uninterrupted power being supplied to them. The transmission and distribution systems had been improved significantly as a result of which complaints like power outages had been minimized to a large extent. “The State presently has systems capable of utilizing 20,000 MW of power,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Assistance appreciated
The Chief Minister appreciated the PFC for the cooperation it had extended in improving the power systems and enabling construction of power plants to mitigate the problems on the power front.
In addition to power projects, the PFC had extended financial assistance to the Irrigation sector enabling the State to become power surplus.
Mr. Rajiv Sharma lauded the proactive approach of the Government in ensuring completion of power and irrigation projects within the set timelines asserting that there were few precedents of ensuring expeditious completion of projects across the country.
Projects were being delayed owing to problems like obtaining clearances and mobilizing funds required for land acquisition and other works, but Telangana had overcome such hindrances in ensuring timely completion of the projects.