Electricity (Amendment) Bill introduced in RS to reform power sector

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) The Government today introduced the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2007 in the Rajya Sabha, aimed at reforming power sector and providing electricity to all people even in remote areas and villages.

Introducing the Bill, Minister for Power Sushilkumar Shinde said the bill would reform the power sector and increase energy efficiency. The bill, which had already been considered by the Standing Committee of Parliament and passed by the Lok Sabha, has made stringent provisions to prevent theft of electricity.

He said the bill would give joint responsibility to the Central and state governments to provide electricity to all.

Moreover, the captive power plants set up in the country would be allowed to sell electricity without license.

Participating in the discussion on the budget, Mr Ajay Maroo of the BJP said that under the bill, the country needed to provide 100kw per person per day to everyone by 2012 for which reaching the target on time was necessary. He also emphasised the need for providing power to all the villages in the country and reducing the transmission and distribution losses.

Pointing out that Delhi was getting more power while states like Bihar didnot get adequate share, he called for removing such imbalances. Moreover, the plants under state governments were having plant load factor of just 68 per cent as compared to plants in private sector which have 88 per cent, he said that working of the plants under state government needed to be improved.

Dr E M Sudarsana Natchiappan of the Congress said electricity should reach all the hamlets and villages of the country so that people from poor families also get the benefit of development. He also called for reducing the cost of apparatus used for harnessing solar energy so that the vast source of non-conventional energy could be utilised.

Mr Virendra Bhatia of the Samajwadi Party said that though the bill called for collaboration between the Centre and the state government, the practical situation was different as was evident from the experience of the previous Uttar Pradesh government. The Centre did not provide gas to a power plant to be set up in the state as it was opposed to the ruling party in the state, he charged and said that in future, no such discrimination should be made as the people of these states were also citizens of the country.

He also pointed out that bill had certain ambiguities especially with regard to theft of power as certain provisions would benefit the accused persons. He also demanded that the power tariff should be lesser for poor people so that those struggling to deal with high inflation in foodgrains price could afford to get basic minimum power.

Mr Tapan Kumar Sen of the CPI(M) also spoke on the provisions of the bill.

More UNI