Power development plan may be revised

The Planning Commission has suggested introduction of an automatic meter reading and geographic information systems (GIS) mapping in at least one town across the 29 states of the country from the next fiscal.

The issue was discussed at a performance review meeting held on January 29 under the chairmanship of member, Planning Commission, Kirit Parikh.

The plan panel also suggested a revision of the Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (APDRP) by providing incentives to the states since the programme has not performed satisfactorily.

"The performances of the states are varied and have not been as per expectations," a Planning Commission official told Business Standard.

The APDRP was created for upgrading the distribution system, minimising transmission and distribution losses, improved metering and assigning responsibility for realisation of user charges. The programme was started in the year 2000-01 for restoring the commercial viability of the distribution sector.

"A formula will be worked out to incentivise the states to implement this proposal," the official said.

Of the 601 district headquarters to be covered under the programme, 400 district headquarters have been covered. With respect to financial progress against the target of Rs 1,100 for 2005-06, Rs 847 crore has been released under.

"The total expenditure target of Rs 9,200 crore was set up for the programme, out of which Rs 5,800 crore have been released till date," a power ministry official said.

He added the progress of the programme was satisfactory only in the Southern states, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Other states have been slow due to lack of state initiative, the official added.

'North Eastern states have been particularly slow barring Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura,' pointed out the official.

Power ministry officials added that five states have already undertaken automatic metering and GIS mapping on a pilot basis.

Officials believe that the limited availability of GIS mapping contractors has resulted in the delay, as the contractors do not want to take up projects in some of the states.