Rec Sets Terms For Assistance To Sebs

The Corporation, he said, was aware that it was impossible to put all farm consumers under metered supply overnight. But a beginning has to be made and REC will, in the first instance, fund the purchase of meters by the SEBs. REC, however, has not fixed the final funding pattern for states in the current year as the Union budget was presented late in the year. But certain tentative allocations have been made to get some proposed schemes going. The final allocation will be made only after the annual plans of states are known, he said.

Gopalkrishnan reviewed the funding of REC schemes in the southern region at a two-day conference of SEB officials from AP, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala here, which ended on Monday. A target of Rs 225 crore has been set for the region. AP would get Rs 70 crore, followed by Tamil Nadu with Rs 60 crore, Karnataka (Rs 50 crore) and Kerala (Rs 45 crore). An additional Rs 311 crore has already been sanctioned for Andhra by the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund to implement 23 sub-projects.

While the performance of all the four southern states in the rural power sector was commendable, Tamil Nadu came in for special praise for its success in harnessing wind power.

Impressed by this, REC plans to fund wind power projects, solar energy plants and mini-hydel power projects with a capacity 15 mw and less, Gopalakrishnan said.