'Govt to focus on rural electrification'

The power sector may finally get a booster with the UPA getting decisive verdict and rural electrification and reduction in losses would be top priority areas for the new government.     

"The UPA is definitely going to pursue power capacity addition and rural electrification as these are too vital for any government to not pursue," an official in a power company said.     

"Besides, reduction of transmission and distribution losses should be the prime focus of the new government,” he added.     

The UPA’s election manifesto before the elections for the 15th Lok Sabha had made it clear that the highest priority would be given to rural electrification and reduction in power distribution losses.     

While comparing its performance in the power sector with the NDA regime, the Indian National Congress came out with certain figures for claiming their contribution for the progress and development in the sector in the country.     

The investments of Rs 1.8 lakh crore in the power sector during 2004-05 to 2007-08 during UPA regime are higher than Rs 1.1 lakh crore in NDA’s rule from 2000-01 to 2003-04.

As far as power generation capacity is concerned, the UPA added 25,583 MW during 2004-05 whereas the NDA installed 13,878 MW from 2000-01 to 2003-04.     

However, the UPA boasts of adding more power generation capacity during its tenure, but this is also a fact that capacity addition targets were missed during the first two financial years of the XIth Five-Year Plan (2007-12).     

The UPA claimed that the per capita consumption of power increased from 592 Kwh in 2003-04 to 707 Kwh in 2007-08. But this is not enough as there is a Herculean task ahead for the new government to reduce power deficit in the country by adding new capacities as well as taming distribution and transmission losses.     

In the present scenario, the total power generation capacity in the country stands at around 1,47,000 MW. The capacity addition of around 78,500 MW is envisaged in the XIth Plan.

Apart from this, techno-economic clearance body, the Central Electricity Authority, is ready with a plan of adding capacity nearly 1,00,000 MW in the next Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

The Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyuti Karan Yojana (RGGVY), launched in April 2005, aims at electrifying all villages and habitations, providing access to electricity to all rural households and providing electricity Connection to below poverty line (BPL) families free of charge.     

Under the programme, 90 per cent grant is provided by the central government and the rest 10 per cent by the Rural Electrification Corporation as loan to the state governments. REC is the nodal agency for the programme.