March 27, 2002

'28'

FARIDABAD POWER CIRCLE FIRST TO ACHIEVE PROFITABILITY UNDER APDRP

FIRST EVER MBA COURSE IN POWER MANAGEMENT LAUNCHED

    The Minister of Power, Shri Suresh Prabhu announced in Faridabad today that the Faridabad Power Circle has become the first circle to achieve profitability under the Accelerated Power Development Reform Programme (APDRP). Shri Prabhu was speaking while launching the APDRP in Haryana.

    The Power Minister said that the achievement of profitability by the Faridabad Circle is the first tangible result of the APDRP launched by the Government in the past year. The success is an indication that the reforms can succeed and power circles selected in other states, under the APDRP must try to emulate the example of Faridabad, the Minister said. The Minister declared an award for the Faridabad Circle for achieving this milestone.

    Shri Prabhu expressed confidence that during the 10th Five Year Plan , in excess of 50,000 MW of generation capacity would be added. The Minister said his Ministry is pursuing a holistic approach and not only is it working on adding generating capacity but also on demand side management, energy conservation and plant modernization. The Minister also unveiled the National Training Policy for the power sector. Shri Prabhu said when he took over the reins of the Ministry in October 2000, he soon realized that the Ministry had no training policy. The Minister said nearly 1 million people work in the power sector and there was an urgent need to train them. Shri Prabhu said training is essential as it changes the mindset and increases output. The Minister complimented the National Power Training Institute (NPTI) for taking up the challenge set before them and said the NPTI should now develop the concept of training franchises. These franchises would speed up the process of training the employees in the power sector and the task could become achievable within the next 2 years.

    In her address, the Minister of State for Power, Smt.Jayawanti Mehta said a training policy was necessary and is part of the Ministry’s effort to make the power sector commercially viable. Training is an investment and plays a crucial role in personality development. Smt.Mehta complimented the Government of Haryana for developing its own model for power reforms under which it has unbundled and split the distribution network into 2 separate companies. During the reforms, the State had added 764 MW to its generating capacity, there has been a cost of economy in generation, farmers are getting 7-8 hours power supply and there is consumer satisfaction, the Minister said. There has been 100% metering of 11KV feeders and about 1.5 lakh defective meters have been replaced. Haryana Power Utilities is also taking active steps against power theft, she added.

    The Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri Om Prakash Chautala in his Presidential address said today electricity is a necessity for agriculture, industry and information technology in which India has tremendous potential. Shri Chautala thanked the Union Government for its relentless efforts in providing cooperation to his Government in its efforts to reform the State’s Power Sector.

    Earlier, Shri Chautala released the NPTI’s publication on Power Reforms and the booklet on APDRP brought out by the Haryana Power Utilities. Smt.Mehta released NPTI’s corporate brochure. The first ever batch of students for MBA in Power were also initiated into the programme by the Director General of NPTI, Dr.B.S.K.Naidu.