Assam to become power sufficient in near future: Gogoi

He petitioned the Centre for restoration of "Special Category" status to Assam

With a host of power generation projects in the pipeline, Assam will become power-sufficient in near future, said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, giving an account of feats achieved during the tenure of his government since 2001. He added that power sector reforms, undertaken by his government since 2003, could improve the power scenario “considerably” in the state over the years.

“My government has given very high priority to power sector reforms and has taken up a host of power projects, some of which have been commissioned such as the 100 MW Karbi-Langpi hydel project and the 38 MW Lakwa waste heat project. A host of other projects like 750 MW Bongaigaon thermal power station, 235 MW project at Namrup, 150 MW Lower Kopili hydroelectric project, 9 MW Lower Kopili hydroelectric project will make Assam sufficient on the power front in the near future,” said Gogoi.

 

Apart from normal budgetary support, the state government has taken up the Assam Power Sector Development Programme, a reform oriented project, with assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB). Gogoi claimed Assam’s own generation of power has increased from 935 million units in 2001 to 1895 now. Similarly, per capita availability of power too has increased from 83 units in 2001 to 232 units and the number of consumers went up from 900,000 to 3.3 million now. More than twenty four thousand villages have so far been electrified as against 12,800 in 2001. Similarly, 1.9 million rural households have electricity connectivity now as compared to 698,000 million in 2001.

Since undertaking reforms, which begun with unbundling of Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) into five corporations in 2004, the state government had invested more than Rs 2,000 crore for capacity augmentation and infrastructure upgrade of the power sector.  The absorption capacity of transmission and distribution network of power sector has increased considerably today.

Furthermore, per-capita income of the state, claimed Gogoi, to has increased 3.8 times from Rs 13,059 in 2001-2002 to Rs 49,480 in 2014-15. The revenue deficit and fiscal deficit of Assam stands at 0.49% and 2.95% of GSDP respectively during 2014-15 against as against 2.3% and 3.78% of GSDP during  2001-2002.

Since industrialisation hasn’t picked up the in the state, Gogoi said Assam would need more public investment and increased financial support from the Centre to sustain and accelerate the growth momentum.

“Focus of my government has always been on agriculture and allied sectors, small and medium industries, handloom and cottage industries,” said Gogoi.

Taking a shot at the present BJP-ruled government at the Centre, Gogoi said funds released by the Centre for planned development of the state have got “significantly” reduced since last year. “The state government worked hand in hand with the Union government to make the Assam strong and prosperous.  Unfortunately, the funds released by the central government for the planned development of the state have got significantly reduced since last year. This would adversely impact the growth and development of the state,” he said.

He said he had petitioned the Centre for restoration of "Special Category" status to Assam as well as for restoration of funding pattern of centrally sponsored schemes and for augmentation of central assistance to the state plan.