Arunachal: Chowna Mein attends the Conference of Power Ministers
Itanagar: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein attended the Conference of Power Ministers of all the States and Union Territories convened by the Union Minister of State (IC), Power and New & Renewable Energy, GoI, R K Singh through Video Conferencing today.
Mein thanked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of Power, GoI for inquising liquidity of Rs 90,000 Crore in the power sector under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and extended his full support for the Aatma Nirbhan Bharat Abhiyan to reduce the imports of equipments for generation, transmission and distribution of Power. He said, “We will sincerely implement the Make in India Policy and I assure that we will adopt the resolutions suggested by the Ministry of Power in this regard”.
While welcoming the proposed new scheme for system strengthening by Government of India, he have sought for special consideration to Arunachal Pradesh in the scheme citing its vast, hilly area with dense forest, affected by heavy rainfall for about 5 months, landslides and snowfall every year resulting into damage to Power infrastructure. He also informed that major portion of existing power infrastructure of the state is very old of NEFA times except some infrastructure recently created under DDUGJY and Saubhagya schemes and put forward the need of adequate financial support for replacing and improving existing transmission lines, substations, transformers, provide ABC cables, SCADA, Smart Grid, High Voltage Distribution System etc.
He further requested to provide adequate financial support so that we give results for reducing AT& C losses and reduce the gap in ACS and ARR. He also requested to enhance the 15% grant for smart metering and billing to 50% as under the TOTEX model, citing that the amount of recovery from each consumers will be costly.
He informed that the remaining works under Integrated Power Development System & Deen Dayal Upadhyay Yojana schemes are going on and likely to be completed by December 2020. He thanked the Union Power Minister for approving the release of unspent balance fund under DDUGY for Arunachal Pradesh.
While welcoming the amendments proposed in Electricity Act 2003 for providing Selection committee for appointment in Regulatory Commissions, he requested that the power, regarding the constitution of State Electricity Regulation Commission should meet with State Govt. and the proposed amendment should not take away the rights of the State saying that the matter pertain to concurrent list.
He also informed that though the implementation of component – A of Pradhan Mantri – Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) has not been encouraging in Arunachal Pradesh due to various reasons like less solar insulation, lack of proper power evacuation infrastructure, lack of subsidy support but the State Govt. is encouraging the farmers to use solar pumps for more crops and productivity.
He suggested that Govt. buildings may be given subsidy in NE states for the grid connected roof top solar projects due to low tariff rate and low solar insulation resulting to less generation compared to other states coupled with low subsidy rate as individuals in domestic sector are not forthcoming to put up rooftop solar systems.
He also requested that Power Grid Corporation of India Limited may be pulled up to complete the Comprehensive Transmission Scheme in the State which was started in 2015 and still going on.
He also informed that the State Govt have already requested Energy Efficiency Services Limited to install smart metres for which action is being taken.
Highlighting the huge Hydro Power Potential of Arunachal Pradesh which amounts to almost 40 % of the country, Mein informed that till date the State have harnessed Hydro Power from Ranganadi HEP (405 MW), Pare HEP (110 MW), Kameng (300 MW), Dikshi (24 MW) and 128 Small Hydro Projects with 63.4 MW.
He informed that Subansiri HE Project (2000MW) is on advance stage with 2023 as its target. He further said that the State Govt has kept in its priority and is making all efforts to resolve land acquisition issues of Dibang Multi-purpose Project (2880 MW) including litigation pending in High Court as soon as possible in consultation with NHPC and affected people. He also informed that Demwe Lower HE Project (1750 MW) is pending in the National Company Law Tribunal. However, State Government has intervened and is exploring to get suitable directions from Higher Court for expeditious disposal of the matter.
He also informed that Government of Arunachal Pradesh had issued notices to non performing power developers that had signed MOU with the State Govt earlier, 74 such projects have been issued notices, while 27 projects have been terminated. These terminated projects have been offered to Ministry of Power for allotting them to any Centre Public Sector undertakings. He also said that Hydro Power Development will be opened to all state Government to explore the possibility to set up Hydro Power Plant in Arunachal Pradesh either independently or in Joint venture.
Among others, Commissioner(Power), G S Meena and Chief Engineers of Power & Hydro-power Departments were also present on the occasion.
