The government would speed up its rural electrification programme under which it has brought electricity to over 61,000 villages against targeted 1.18 lakh, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today said after assuming charge of the ministry.
About expectations from the forthcoming Budget, Shinde told reporters: "We would ask for higher budgetary support for the ministry in generation and for ambitious programmes like Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programmes (APDRP) and Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikarn Yojana (RGGVY)."
When asked why power generation capacity addition was hit during the first two financial years of 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12) as about 14,000 Mw could be added, Shinde replied, "Initially, it takes time for power projects to take off. The results are visible after some time as setting up a power project takes three to four years."
"During the current Plan period, as per the department projections, over 77,000 Mw power generation capacity is to be added. But later we found that it would be over 92,000 Mw. If we add another 12,000 Mw captive power generation capacity, it would be over 1 lakh Mw during the 11th Five-Year Plan."