Govt commits to provide electricity to all Indian villages by March 2017

Power Ministers of all states and Union Territories unanimously decided to ensure electrification of all the un-electrified villages by March 31, 2017 in mission mode under the Centre’s ambitious Deendayal Upadhyaya Grameen Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY).

The two-day conference of ministers of power, new & renewable energy and mines from States and UTs, which ended in Kochi, also resolved to work in mission mode to complete the activities in the roll out plan for achieving the 24×7 Power For All by 2019 or earliest.

It was decided that the states whose plan documents on Power For All have not been prepared should get it expedited with the help of consultants and central team members so that all these documents are completed by December 31 this year.

The conference was chaired by Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal. States also resolved to ensure expeditious implementation of Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) projects by implementing them within 30 months from date of sanction. They have also resolved to achieve 15 per cent Aggregate Technical and Commercial Losses (AT & C) at national level by 2019-20.

A state-level mission will be established to plan smart grid activities in states. States presently not having Right of Way (RoW) and Right of Use( RoU)/policy should take immediate step to get it. States resolved to set targets for replacing all existing conventional street lights and incandescent bulbs with LED by 2019.

Nine States – Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana – have decided to replace 10 per cent of existing agricultural water pumps with energy efficient pumps, including solar, within one year.

States agreed to set up solar parks as per stipulated schedule and to mandate installation of solar roof tops on government buildings. They also decided to encourage interstate and intrastate transmission of renewable energy through various steps like allowing open access,not charging wheeling charges, cross subsidy charges and banking charges etc.

States rich in wind resource agreed to put in place a mechanism for forecasting and scheduling of wind power by January 1, 2016. In his concluding remarks, Goyal urged states to take steps to clear dues of power generation companies by March 2016 so that next financial year can be started on a clean slate. The Minister urged states to stand by their commitments in additional allocation of power and renewable energy.

Ministers from 15 states and Delhi and senior officials, including Secretary, Power P K Pujari, Secretary, MNRE Upendra Tripathy and Power Secretaries of States and Union Territories attended the conference.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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