 "Piyush Goyal")
The handbook capturing the two-year achievements of the coal, power and renewable energy departments, all under Piyush Goyal, has the word "record" written the most number of times - record coal production, power generation, transmission capacity, installed solar power capacity, etc. The three departments have started several schemes for revamp and expansion, leading the pack among infrastructure ministries.
On the plus side, state-owned Coal India has ramped up annual production to 536 million tonnes and the ministry has also conducted the first ever e-auction of coal blocks to the private sector. Solar power saw the highest ever capacity addition to 6,762 Mw and wind power regained capacity of 3,500 Mw after two years. Around 2 Gw of solar projects were commissioned in FY16, about $0.2 billion of investment. Total wind power projects commissioned were 3.6 Gw, an investment of $2.1 bn. The minister has also pushed for power distribution reforms under its flagship Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana.
An articulate ex-banker and a chartered accountant by training, Goyal is particular about numbers. And, his announcements always have lofty targets. Goyal was the only minister to send to all those in all his departments a framed appreciation letter. He says he hasn't slept for more than five hours a day since he took charge. Spiritual and given to long meditation sessions, he's also a workaholic whose meetings run till late in the night.
