| Orissa gets Centre's Rs 10,000cr power aid |
| BS Reporter / Bhubaneswar July 23, 2007 |
| The central government has offered Orissa Rs 10,000 crore for various power sector initiatives. The amount will be invested over a period of five years in rural, semi-urban and urban areas. "The funds will be utilised for improving generation, distribution and transmission of power in Orissa," A K Lakhina, chairman and managing director, Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), said. Talking to media persons after his meeting with Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik today, Lakhina said various methodology of improving power sector initiatives in Orissa were discussed. REC offered to provide expertise to the state government in the field of generation, transmission and power distribution. Orissa has been facing difficulties in privatisation of the sector as private enterprises are unable to pursue rural electrification with vigour, he said. He said, the Centre has utilised the services of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) and National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) for taking up rural electrification in Orissa. While four projects have already been sanctioned for Nayagarh, Anugul ,Ganjam and Gajapati, projects in three more districts have received the Centre's in principle approval. All the remaining districts of the state will be covered under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), he said. There was a feeling that villages and hamlets with sub-300 populations would not be covered under RGGVY. Orissa, having many such hamlets, was apprehensive of the success of the programme in the state. Lakhina said, the Union government is aware of the issue and the limit may be reduced to cover villages and hamlets with population of 100. It may be noted, the Orissa government had announced launching of |
