Gujarat bags awards for power sector showing

Gujarat on Wednesday bagged top honours for its performance in the power sector as President A P J Abdul Kalam awarded five gold shields to Gujarat for its initiatives in the segment.

Minister of state for energy and petrochemicals Saurabh Dalal and other officials of the Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) received the awards at a function held in Delhi on Wednesday.

Minister Saurabh Dalal said Gujarat is proud to receive the awards - five gold shields, five silver shields and 14 certificates of good performance - and these reflect the commitment towards providing better quality of electricity to the people of the state.

Stating that GEB was working overtime to make its systems efficient and consumer friendly, Dalal said in 2001 GEB's losses were around Rs 2,542.08 crore, which have been brought down to Rs 485.81 crore in July 2004.

In July GEB had generated an income of Rs 907 crore, which is the highest in the history of the board. Dalal said Gujarat will become a power surplus state by 2008.

He added that there is a deficit of about 800 mw in meeting peak power requirements, but in the next three or four years, there will be a surplus power situation in Gujarat, as power projects of 5,000 mw are being planned.

He added that around 2,500 mw of capacity will be added by 2006 and an equal quantity will be added in Gujarat in the next two years.

The state is currently meeting its extra power requirements by drawing power from the national grid.

Listing down other initiatives that have been undertaken in the power sector, Dalal said Gujarat is the first and probably the only state which has renegotiated long term power purchase agreements with independent power producers that will help the government save Rs 495 crore every year.

He also spoke about the Jyoti Gram Yojna of the Gujarat government, under which all villages in the state are to be provided with electricity round the clock.

Over 4,000 villages have been covered so far under the project and 8,000 will be covered by the year end, he said. A provision of Rs 100 crore has been made for the project.