Power reform plan overhauled, ready for Cabinet nod

The government is all set to check the high technical and commercial losses in the power sector.

The Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (APDRP), the flagship programme for tackling these losses, has been revamped and will be put up for Cabinet approval shortly.

"The restructured APDRP will kick in from April "" the beginning of the 11th Plan," a senior official in the power ministry said. The four-year-old APDRP, widely seen as an unsuccessful programme with lower-than-targeted reduction in losses, was reviewed by a task force headed by former power secretary P Abraham.

After getting a feedback from a host of stakeholders "" the finance ministry, Planning Commission and state utilities "" on the recommendations of the task force, a Cabinet note for a revamped APDRP is being prepared by the power ministry.

In 2004-05, the national AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) losses stood at 33.82 per cent, a decline from 38.86 per cent in 2002-03 but much higher than the acceptable level of 12-15 per cent.

While the all-India figure is not "daunting," according to a power ministry official, there are states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir where these losses are abysmally high, at 60 per cent or more.