Government has decided to set up a panel with members from power and railway ministries among others to fast-track railway clearances for construction of electricity transmission projects in the country.
"Government will constitute a committee chaired by Power Ministry's Joint Secretary (Transmission) for speedy clearance by railways to electricity transmission projects," a senior official said.
During Power Ministers' Conference held in June this year, it was decided to evolve an institutional mechanism for quick approval of railway clearance for transmission projects.
The first meeting of the panel is schedule on August 11. The other members of the committee are a director or above level officer from railways, PowerGird representative, nominee from concerned states and an expert from Central Electricity Authority.
The development is significant in view of government's target of constructing 1,07,440 ckm transmission lines and setting up of 2,82,740 mega volt amp (MVA) transformation capacity during the 12th Plan (by March 2017).
As of now, 89,813 ckm of transmission lines and 2,66,033 MVA of transformation capacity have been achieved till June 30.
At present, the total transmission capacity of inter-regional links is 59,550 MW (as on June 2016) which is expected to increase to 68,050 MW by March 2017.
In order to meeting the the government's target of providing 24x7 power to all, NITI Aayog has also set a target of adding 51,400 circuit km (CKM) transmission line this fiscal, 82 per cent more than what was achieved in 2015-16.
