Bihar Joins “UDAY” Scheme ; Sixth State to Sign MOU
Bihar Joins “UDAY” Scheme ; Sixth State to Sign MOU
State Would Derive an Overall Net Benefit of Rs.9000 Crore Through “UDAY”
State Would Derive an Overall Net Benefit of Rs.9000 Crore Through “UDAY”
The Government of India, the State of Bihar and the
DISCOMs of Bihar (North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited, and South
Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited) signed Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) under the Scheme UDAY – “Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana” here today for
operational and financial turnaround of the DISCOMs. The signing ceremony was
held in the august presence of the Minister of State for Power (IC) Shri Piyush
Goyal.
The MoUs was signed on behalf of Ministry of Power
by Dr A K Verma, Shri Pratyaya Amrit , Secretary Energy on behalf of
State Government of Bihar and on behalf of two DISCOMs by Shri R
Lakshmanan , MD, North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited and Shri
Sandeep Kumar MD ,South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited .
On the occasion, Shri Piyush
Goyal said “ Our focus and our efforts have been that eastern parts of India
should progress fast and gets benefits of rapid growth in infrastructure ,
which over the years has suffered behind the curve of growth….. should benefit
from enjoy the fruit of development and rapidly catch up the rest of India.
This has been promised and guiding principle of the Government of India and our
department have made focused efforts to bring about paradigm change in the
Power Sector in Bihar over the last 22 months.” Shri Goyal further said “I am
delighted that the state government rapidly worked to prepare the agreement
between the Discoms and state government and the centre. All of us stand
committed to working as a team India to ensure the benefits of progress….. the
benefits of development and growth reach every citizen of the country
particularly of the Eastern India …….particularly of Bihar. Reiterating his
commitment of fulfilling all the assurances made in Bihar Package, Shri
Goyal said “The Government stands committed to all the assurances that were
made in terms of Bihar package which included a UMPP at Banka for which
now a coal mine has also been allotted and cheaper coal given to Barh so that
the cost of power reduced nearly by Rs 2/- a unit which includes quickly
implementing Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana( DDUGJY) scheme and
Integrated Power Development Scheme so that power can reach every home in
Bihar…. who have been remained deprived of electricity for nearly 7 decades…..
also rapidly completing the incomplete projects of the 11th and
12th Plan which also need to be completed along with new
projects . Shri Goyal further informed that 981 Mega Watt of power from
Bhutan has been allotted to Bihar and from Buxar Thermal Power Plant , 1310
Mega Watt of Power will be given to Bihar."
In his speech broadcast over phone at the ceremony
from Patna, Shri Bijendra Prasad Yadav , Minister of Energy & Commercial
Tax, State Government of Bihar thanked Shri Piyush Goyal on behalf of State for
bringing UDAY Scheme . He assured that all targets given in the MOU will be
achieved. He hoped that Centre Government will allot more power to the State.
The Distribution Utilities of the country are
reeling under heavy debt burden. As on 30th September, 2015,
the outstanding debt of the DISCOMs stood at Rs.4.3 lakh crore. In order
to bring relief to these Utilities from the burden of debt, and to improve
their overall performance, Government of India launched the Scheme UDAY on 20th November,
2015, after a series of discussions with all the stakeholders, namely the State
Governments, DISCOMs, lenders etc. UDAY is an aim to ensure a permanent
solution to the debt-ridden Distribution utilities to achieve financial
stability and to improve their operational efficiencies, for sustained growth.
Bihar is the sixth State to have accepted UDAY for
bringing about a positive change in the Power Sector scenario of the States.
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have already signed the
MoU under UDAY for operational and financial turnaround of DISCOMs. With
the signing of MoU with Bihar, approximately 33% of the DISCOM debt, ie. around
Rs.1.40 lakh crore, would be restructured. Gujarat has also signed the MoU for
operational turnaround, considering the healthy financial position of the
DISCOMs of the State.
The Government of Bihar has taken a major step
towards improving the financial health of the DISCOMs by signing the MOU under
UDAY and agreeing to take over the debt of the DISCOMs. The Government
of Bihar would take over Rs.2332 cr. of DISCOM debt, being 75% of the total
DISCOM debt of Rs.3110 cr. outstanding as on 30.09.2015, as envisaged in the
scheme. The scheme also provides for the balance debt of Rs.778 cr. to be
re-priced or issued as State guaranteed DISCOM bonds, at coupon rates around 3%
less than the average existing interest rate. The annual saving in the interest
cost to the State would be around Rs.117 cr. on account of restructuring of the
DISCOM debt.
UDAY not only focusses on bringing about financial
turnaround of the DISCOMs. It also lays stress on improving operational
efficiencies of the DISCOMs. In order to bring about a sustainable turnaround
of the DISCOMs, the State of Bihar and the DISCOMs will improve operational
efficiency through compulsory Feeder and Distribution Transformer metering,
consumer indexing & GIS mapping of losses, upgrade/change transformers,
meters etc., smart metering of high-end consumers, thereby bringing about
reduction in transmission losses and AT&C losses, besides eliminating the
gap between cost of supply of power and realisation. The reduction in
AT&C losses and transmission losses to 15% and 4% respectively is likely to
bring additional revenue of around Rs.6650 cr. during the period of turnaround.
With the financial turnaround through financial and
operational efficiencies, the rating of the DISCOMs would improve, which would
help them in raising cheaper funds for their future capital investment
requirement. This is expected to provide interest cost saving of around
Rs.80 cr. to the DISCOMs.
While efforts will be made by the State Government
and the DISCOMs to improve the operational efficiency of the DISCOMs, and
thereby reduce the cost of supply of power, the Central government would also
provide incentives to the DISCOMs and the State Government for improving Power
infrastructure in the State and for further lowering the cost of power. The
Central schemes such as DDUGJY, IPDS, Power Sector Development Fund or such
other schemes of MOP and MNRE are already providing funds for improving Power
Infrastructure in the State and additional/priority funding would be considered
under these schemes, if the State/DISCOMs meet the operational milestones
outlined in the scheme. The State shall also be supported through additional
coal at notified prices and in case of availability through higher capacity
utilization, low cost power from NTPC and other CPSUs. Other
benefits such as coal swapping, coal rationalization, correction in coal grade
slippage, availability of 100% washed coal would help the state to further
reduce the cost of Power. The State would gain around Rs.1086 cr. due to these
coal reforms.
Demand Side interventions in UDAY such as usage of
energy-efficient LED bulbs, agricultural pumps, fans & air-conditioners and
efficient industrial equipment through PAT (Perform, Achieve, Trade) would help
in reducing peak load, flatten load curve and thus help in reducing energy
consumption in the State of Bihar. The gain is expected to be around Rs.720 cr.
The ultimate benefit of signing the MOU would go to
the people of Bihar. Higher demand for power from DISCOMs would mean higher PLF
of Generating units and therefore, lesser cost per unit of electricity thereby
benefitting consumers. The DISCOMs would also increase power supply in areas
with reduced AT&C losses. The scheme would allow speedy availability of
power to around 1152 villages and 160.60 lakh households in Bihar that are
still without electricity. Availability of 24x7 power to hitherto unconnected
villages/households etc. would boost the economy, promote industries, thereby
improving employment opportunities and see Bihar develop into one of the
leading industrialised States in India.
An overall net benefit of approximately Rs.9000 cr.
would accrue to the State by opting to participate in UDAY, by way of savings
in interest cost, reduction in AT&C and transmission losses, interventions
in energy efficiency, coal reforms etc. during the period of turnaround.
UDAY is an effort to make the DISCOMs financially
independent and operationally healthy, to be able to supply adequate power at
affordable rates, through 100% Village electrification and 24X7 Power For All.
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258 Villages Electrified Last Week Under DDUGJY
258 villages have been electrified across the
country during last week (from 15th to 21st February 2016) under Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY). Out of these electrified villages, 120
villages belong to Odisha , 64 in Jharkhand, . 41 villages in Assam, 19
in Madhya Pradesh 8 to Rajasthan, and 6 in Chhattisgarh. The progress
of ongoing electrification process can be tracked on http://garv.gov.in/dashboard
An update on ongoing electrification process
In view of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s
address to nation, on Independence Day, Government of India has decided to
electrify remaining 18,452 unelectrified villages within 1000 days i.e. by 01st May,
2018. The project has been taken on mission mode and strategy for
electrification consists of squeezing the implementation schedule to 12 months
and alsodividing village electrification process in 12 Stage milestones with
defined timelines for monitoring.
During 2015-16, 5537 villages have been
electrified till date. Out of remaining 12,915 villages, 9026 villages are
to be electrified through grid, 3381 villages are to be electrified through
off- grid where grid solutions are out of reach due to geographical barriers
and 508 villages are to be electrified by State Govt own. Total 1654 villages
were electrified during April 2015 to 14th Aug 2015 and after
taking initiative by Government of India for taking it on mission mode, 3883
additional villages have been electrified from 15th August 2015
to 21st February. In order to expedite the progress further, a
close monitoring is being done through Gram Vidyut Abhiyanta (GVA) and various
actions are also being taken on regular basis like reviewing the progress
on monthly basis during the RPM meeting, sharing of
list of villages which are at the stage of under energisation with the state
Discom, identifying the villages where milestone progress are delayed.
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ACC Appointments
The Appointments Committee of the
Cabinet has approved the following:
1. Appointment of Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Director-cum-Vice Chancellor, IARI, ICAR, New Delhi to the post of Secretary, DARE-cum-DG, ICAR vice Dr. S.Ayyappan.
2. Extension of tenure of Prof. K.Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT) till 2.2.2018 i.e. till he attains the age of 64 years.
1. Appointment of Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Director-cum-Vice Chancellor, IARI, ICAR, New Delhi to the post of Secretary, DARE-cum-DG, ICAR vice Dr. S.Ayyappan.
2. Extension of tenure of Prof. K.Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT) till 2.2.2018 i.e. till he attains the age of 64 years.
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