Cea Will Not Be Scrapped, Assures Venugopalachari

The minister of state for power S Venugopalachari yesterday assured that the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) would not be wound up in the face of the governments move to set up a Central electricity regulatory commission.

There is no question of winding up of the Central Electricity Authority. We will utilise their services at the Centre and states for various activities.

He said the power ministry would forward a bill on the Central electricity regulatory commission to be introduced in Parliament and was confident it would be passed in the current session.

Asked if he foresaw any opposition to the bill in view of the power transmission bill referred to the standing parliamentary committee, Venugopalachari said both the bills would be cleared in the current session, after the present political impasse was blown over in next two days.

The law ministry had studied the draft of the bill and had sought a few clarifications, which the power ministry was fulfilling, he said.

The ministry wanted to know the role and powers of the proposed regulatory body and the Central Electricity Authority, sources said.

Regarding the status of the transmission bill, which seeks to amend the existing Central Electricity Act to enable power transmission as a separate activity than distribution, Venugopalachari said he had proposed an additional provision in the bill to get the state governments consent for such activity.

He said the intention of the bill was misunderstood. The government did not want to privatise the existing transmission setup, but only wished to facilitate evacuation of power from new projects in the private sector.

Sources said the electricity regulatory commission bill was being held up because of differences over the eligibility criteria for the chairman of the proposed regulatory commission at the Centre.