Govt to take help of NGOs to spread its power conservation driv

New Delhi, June 26 (UNI) Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today said the Government aims to elicit the support to NGOs in an effort to take to the common man its drive of conserving electricity.

Government had taken many steps to save power in its institutions and establishments but they were not enough, hence the ministry wanted to involve NGOs in a bid to galvanise the masses, he said after releasing the inaugural issue of 'Urjavaran', a magazine that focused at measures to conserve energy along with preserving the environment.

Mr Shinde hoped the magazine would target the youth who in turn would help take the message across to every household in the country.

While the power ministry aimed to add about 78,000 MW to the existing 1.30 lakh MW installed capacity of power in the country during the 11th Five-Year-Plan, it also proposed to spread awareness in the people about efficient use of power, Mr Shinde said.

''Conserving 10,000 MW will save the nation as much as Rs 40,000 crore.'' We would, however, want energy efficiency to go hand in glove with growth in per capita consumption of power, which was expected to go up from 660 KW hour per year at present to 1,000 Kwh/yr by 2012, the minister added.

Eminent physicist M G K Menon, Bureau of Energy Efficiency Director General Ajay Mathur and Urjavaran Foundation President R N Engineer were present on the occasion.

UNI