The Union Minister of Power Shri Anant G.Geete
has said that the Centre will provide financial assistance to
the State Electricity Boards (SEBs) under the Accelerated Power
Development and Reform Programme (APDRP) for improving distribution
network, reducing technical and commercial losses, increasing
revenue realization and ensuring quality and reliable power supply
to the consumers. Shri Geete was addressing the Members of the
Consultative Committee of Members of Parliament attached to his
Ministry at Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram today.
The Minister told the Members that henceforth
APDRP funds shall be released only to those States which agree
to implement the distribution reforms, sign MOU (Memorandum of
Understanding) and MOA (Memorandum of Agreement), Tripartite Agreement
to securitise their old dues and seriously implement these agreements.
The Minister told the Members that for achieving
the commercial viability of the SEBs, his Ministry had formulated
a multi-pronged strategy at national level, State level, SEB/Utility
level, distribution circle level, the feeder level and the consumer
level. The objectives of the new scheme – APDRP – would be reduction
of Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses from the present
50% to around 10%, reduction of cash losses, improvement in quality
of power supply, customer satisfaction and improvement in physical
and financial performance of SEBs/utilities. APDRP fund amounting
to Rs 1403 crore have already been released to various states.
The Ministry has sanctioned various APDRP projects costing Rs.3984
crore during the current financial year.
Shri Geete told the Members that to help the
SEBs/Utilities in efficient and professional implementation of
the scheme, MOP appointed NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation)
and POWERGRID as lead Advisor-cum-Consultants (AcCs), whose main
function was preparation of Project Reports, supervision and monitoring
of the project implementation. NTPC & POWERGRID had already
prepared fundable DPRs for 63 Circles identified as centres of
excellence in the first phase. In the context of power sector
reforms, a rating study of SEBs/Utilities by independent rating
agencies has been taken up. The extent of facilitation and assistance
from MOP would be determined by this rating. The MOP would regularly
review the status of reforms in all States and the progress achieved
by the SEBs/Utilities viz. a viz. commitments made by them in
MOU and MOA, Shri Geete added.
The steps taken by MOP and the States had
started showing results and the revenue deficit had already started
reducing, Shri Geete added. In Rajasthan the deficit during 2001-02
was Rs.1200 crore as against Rs.1678 during the preceding year.
Similarly Andhra Pradesh reduced the losses by Rs.697 crore. Karnataka
reduced the losses by Rs.197 crore, and Haryana by Rs.205 crore.
Assam which was incurring a monthly loss of Rs.28.36 crore could
bring it down to Rs.4 crore in July 2002 and to Rs.3 crore in
August. In UP, the daily collection increased from Rs.12 crore
to Rs.16 crore.
Shri Geete said that T&D losses also started
coming down. While in Rajastan losses came down to 38.26 per cent
from 42.01 per cent, in A.P., it was brought down to 29.6 percent
from 31.5 per cent and in Haryana the losses came down to 44.76
per cent from 48.96 per cent. The Minister said that the enactment
of anti-theft legislation by the States also showed positive results.
After enacting the legislation, an additional 47,000 consumers
were assessed and dues of more than 50 per cent of them had been
finalized resulting in additional billing of Rs 44 crore in Andhra
Pradesh. In addition, 22 lakh unauthorized connections were also
regularized. In Karnataka, nine lakh unauthorized connections
were regularized and Rs.93 crore was collected as regularization
fee.
In West Bengal, following the enactment of
the legislation to curb power theft, under which it is a non-bailable
offence, 2700 premises were raided, 350 FIRs lodged and 82 persons
arrested in two months. While AP, Karnataka, West Bengal, UP and
MP have already enacted similar legislation, Maharashtra and Punjab
have taken steps in this direction. All the other States have
been asked to enact such a legislation.
Shri Geete informed the Members that the financial
health of the SEBs was a matter of great concern for the Centre,
considering that their losses had reached an alarming level of
Rs.33,000 crore, which is equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of
GDP.
Consequently, the accumulation of outstanding
payments by SEBs to Central Power Sector Undertakings (CPSUs)
came to Rs.40,000 crore, seriously hampering their capacity addition
programme. He described the core of the problem as the poor state
of transmission and distribution system.
The Minister of State of Power, Smt. Jayawanti
Mehta, also participated in the meeting. The Members who attended
today’s meeting includes Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Shri Dharam
Raj Singh Patel, Shri Subodh Ray, Shri Shankar Prasad Jaiswal,
and Smt. Prabha Rau, all from Lok Sabha, and Shri Manohar Kant
Dhyani, Shri Bashistha Narain Singh and Shri Sunil Shastri, all
from Rajya Sabha.
Shri Anant G.Geete and Smt.Jayawanti Mehta,
along with Shri R.V.Shahi, Union Power Secretary, visited NTPC’s
Kayamkulam Power Station last evening. They were accompanied by
Shri C.P.Jain, CMD, NTPC. The team made a brief visit to the Main
Plant and Unit Control Room along with senior officials of NTPC
and inspected the plant operation. Shri CP. Jain, CMD briefed
the functioning of the power station to the dignitaries. During
the visit, Shri Geete inaugurated the NTPC Guest House ‘Kalpa
Nikunj’ at Shaktipuram Township and addressed the employees of
Kayamkulam project.
