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| Power Min seeks 56% raise in outlay |
| Sudheer Pal Singh / New Delhi Jan 06, 2010, 00:43 IST |
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With states speeding up distribution reforms in the power sector, the requirement for Central funds has gone up by over a half in the next financial year.
The power ministry is seeking an over 56 per cent increase in the gross Budgetary support (GBS) for its planned outlay, at Rs 14,430 crore, for 2010-11.
The increased demand for next year’s allocation has been sought mainly to fund the expenditure under the Revised Accelerated Power Distribution and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) and the Rajeev Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY).
“Out of the total fund allocation of Rs 14,000 crore sought by us, Rs 11,000 crore has been demanded for the two programmes,” said a senior power ministry official.
The ministry’s GBS for the Eleventh Plan period (2007-12) was Rs 30,451 crore, of which about a third — Rs 19,600 crore — has already been allocated to it in the first three years of the Plan.
R-APDRP and RGGVY are the two flagship schemes of the power ministry. Both the schemes together account for a major chunk — 80-90 per cent — of the total Budgetary support for the electricity sector in India.
“For APDRP, we have asked for a Rs 4,000-crore allocation from the Ministry of Finance, as against Rs 1,730 crore asked by us last time. It’s a highly capital-intensive scheme,” the ministry official said, adding that distribution reforms had picked up in states.
R-APDRP aims at ushering in a revival of the power distribution sector by bringing down the overall Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses in the country to 15 per cent from over 30 per cent at present. “The restructured form of the scheme has taken off this year only. So, we expect the outlay to at least double,” the official added.
R-APDRP was approved in July 2008.
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