Union Power Minister appeals for electrifying all households in the country

The Union Minister for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal on Thursday has said that his Ministry is committed to ensuring that every household is electrified and all farmers in the country get adequate and timely power in the country.

Addressing the Conference of State Power, Energy and Renewable Energy Ministers at Goa he said making a difference to the lives of poor, rural people and farmers is important in achieving our goal of 24X7 power for all-industry, commerce, households, farmers- in the country by the year 2019. He also underlined that we are committed to cheaper adequate power in a sustainable efficient manner for the poor. He said it is easy if we work in the spirit of participation and cooperation.

Goyal said we learn from experiences of states and I am happy that this conference has developed into a good platform for exchange of ideas and understand each other’s problems. Laying a lot of emphasis on the North Eastern states he said unless we develop the East and north eastern states we will not be able to develop India. Commenting on the common pool purchase policy for larger equipments such as transformers, cables he hoped his Ministry will receive help from states. He said if some states feel they can do better in purchasing of equipment and machinery they are welcome however his Ministry is of the view that the centralized system with a common procurement committee is better.

He expressed happiness that 2 states Karnataka and Goa are signing the UDAY agreement today. He took pride in the fact that no states have been discriminated except preferential treatment to the North east. Reacting to the agenda items for the conference Goyal said that hydro and wind energy has been neglected areas and it is important to get them on track with long term plans for growth in the deliberations. Urban areas and our cities/towns also need 24x7 power. Sharing the Gujarat experience of reduction of power thefts he said the tariff increase there had been the lowest. It is not the poor who steal and it’s the bigger power thefts which had corruption. He appealed to all states to reduce power thefts and said there is great political benefit in stopping power theft while asking support for the program being suggested in the conference for doing this.