NEW DELHI (INDIA): “Ït has been one of the most successful, productive and outcome oriented State Power Ministers conference till date”, said Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, while addressing the media on the concluding day of the two-day State Power Ministers’ Conference here.
Informing about the outcomes of the conference, Goyal stated that there was a wide consensus amongst all the Chief Ministers of States/UTs present to achieve the target of 24×7 affordable and quality power for all citizens of the country by December 2018, thereby reinforcing the Vadodara resolution.
Talking about conference as a forum for open minded discussion on issues of the respective sectors, Shri Goyal informed that certain new issues were also discussed during the conference. He informed that the issues included mandatory recycling of waste water from power plants for usage for drinking, better management of Dry Ash by encouraging setting up of cement plants in proximity of power plants for its consumption etc. The Minister said that all the states have collectively decided to work on deriving innovative solutions to the problems of the power and mining sectors.
Talking about discussions on power sector reforms, Shri Goyal informed that the Ministers agreed upon bringing about transparency in the Merit Order Dispatch and said that a mobile app would soon be launched in this regard by the Central Government. The session on Cyber Security included Government persuading the State Governments to encourage payment of electricity bills through the digital mode in order to increase transparency and better compliance.
While informing the media about the deliberations on environmental issues and their solutions through renewable energy, Goyal said that the states have decided to encourage Renewable Power via grid integration, promotion of green energy corridors, energy efficient solar pumps for irrigation etc.
The Minister also emphasised on ensuring seamless power to the industries so as to attract foreign investment in the sector. Further, the participants also discussed rationalisation of power tariff structure through better fuel linkages, transparent price discovery and promised to come up with a plan to benefit consumers soon.
Goyal also announced that the next State Power Ministers Conference would be held in Rajgir, Bihar. Other dignitaries present on the occasion were P.K. Pujari, Secretary Power, Arun Kumar, Secretary Mines, Rajeev Kapoor, Secretary MNRE along with other senior officers of State Governments and CPSUs.