Odisha wants RGGVY-II benefits for tiny habitats

State govt has initiated Biju Grameen Jyoti Yojana in rural areas and Biju Saharanchal Vidyutikarana Yojana in urban areas

Odisha government on Tuesday urged the Union power ministry to cover habitations with population less than 100 in the second phase of the flagship Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY).

“While I welcome the launching of RGGVY- II, I would sincerely request to cover habitations of having less than 100 population, take steps for up gradation of sub transmission infrastructure and make provision for XLPE/ underground cables to connect all remote forest and hilly villages,” said state energy minister, Arun Kumar Sahu at the 7th Power Ministers’ Conference held at New Delhi.

He rued that the achievements under the RGGVY-I is far from satisfactory because of the deficiencies in the design of the scheme and its implementations.

To give electricity connections to the habitations having less than 100 population, the state government has initiated Biju Grameen Jyoti Yojana in rural areas and Biju Saharanchal Vidyutikarana Yojana in urban areas.

The state government also urged the power ministry to provide assistance under the Restructured-Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (R-APDRP) to the three private distribution companies operating in the state

Complaining that the state is discriminated in the R-APDRP scheme, Sahu said, since the state has privatised the distribution network, a vast majority of consumers covered under the private discoms are not getting the benefits under the R-APDRP scheme as the private discoms are denied assistance under the scheme.

As of now, only one distribution company, Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha Ltd (Cesu), which is managed by the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC), expects to get funding under R-APDRP.

In allocation of coal blocks, the minister asked for preferential treatment to Odisha PSUs vis-à-vis other state PSUs.

He also requested the power ministry to take up the proposal of the state run power trader, Gridco under the FRP (Financial Restructuring Plan) at the earliest.  

Odisha reiterated its demand to amend the tariff policy for providing 25 per cent free power to the host states from thermal power plants located in coal bearing states for easing the coal scarcity as done in the cases of hydro power.

Sahu called upon the power ministry to solve the issues relating to point of connection charges and non-availability of transmission corridors for evacuation of power from the power surplus states like Odisha to the deficit ones.