Assam Minister blames delivery system for power shortage

Guwahati, Jul 20 (UNI) Assam Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi today claimed that the state was not facing any power shortage and blamed the lacunae in the delivery system for failing to maintain an uninterrupted power supply.

He also said the power sector reforms had started yielding result and the state government was putting all thrust on accelerating the growth in the power sector.

Addressing a press meet here, Mr Bordoloi said, " There is no power shortage in the state at the moment. Load shedding the people are facing in some parts is due to the inefficiency of the local delivery mechanism. " " Load shedding is not due to unavailability of power but due to the lacunae in the local delivery mechanism, " he added.

Various sorts of problems, like power theft, inefficiency among the staff, negligence of duty and commercial loss and so and so forth had created an impression that the state was still reeling under power shortage, he said.

He said Upper Assam and Barak Valley were particularly facing the problems due to the inefficiency of the local delivery mechanism.

The Minister maintained that power theft and commercial loss accounted for the highest loss in the power sector in the state.

He informed that the power sector reforms, set in motion in 2004, had shown positive result, encouraging the government to implement the reforms more widely.

He said the aggregate power loss, including all stages from generation up to distribution, had come down by four per cent now.

He said, " In 2004, the aggregate loss was 55 per cent, which has now been reduced to 51 per cent. One per cent of loss is approximately equivalent to loss of Rs 1 crore in monetary value. " Mr Bordoloi said the government was targeting to bring down the loss to 15 per cent by the turn of the 11th Five Year Plan in 2011.

The government had also set the target of complete rural electrification by 2012 and emerge at a position where it could provide power to every household on demand.

He said, " The current power demand in 850 MW, but it is only the restricted demand. Total demand would go up to 1100 MW if we could supply all the power needed at present. " He identified better proficiency in the delivery system and more power generation as the tools to handle the ever-growing power demand in the state.

The Minister admitted that there were plenty of problems in the delivery system and the government was putting its thrust on improving the scenario.

The generation sector was also being opened up to the private sector in partnership mode for meeting the growing demand, he added.

UNI