Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said the Government in 100 days had slogged the system to produce nearly 22 per cent more electricity and is on track to provide 24x7 power to all in five years.
Blaming the policies of previous government for domestic production not meeting power plant requirement, Goyal said his ministry is aiming to rationalise supplies by supplying fuel nearest to the plant as well as implement long term measures to raise output.
Task force for greater surveillance of coalfields will be formed and the Government will also look at appointment of Coal India head breaking from the present system of PSEB appointment to bring greater professional efficiency.
The minister said that the government will bring in a statutory and robust coal regulator to replace the proposed Coal Regulatory Authority. "A non-statutory regulator was proposed which in my opinion has no meaning because it had no teeth to implement any of its decisions, therefore we are not pursuing a non-statutory coal regulator," Goyal said.
Blaming the previous regime Goyal said, "The fact the coal production has not increased is the reality that I have inherited and I cannot increase coal production in 100 days."
He added that the Government with available resources was able to increase power supply by 22 per cent which is only coal based. This Government is committed to ensure affordable 24x7 power for all homes, industrial and commercial establishments and adequate power for farms, within five years.
The minister also assured that there will be speedy action after the Supreme Court's decision on illegal coal mine allocation to get the process rolling and enhance coal output to 1 billion tonne by 2019.
Several steps are being taken to resolve stranded gas based capacity (24,148 MW) issue and plans have been made to use gas primarily to meet peak load demand since electricity generation can be ramped up at a short notice, Goyal said.
Goyal said the Government was committed to bring about atransformative change in the power sector and ensure affordable 24x7 power for all homes, industrial & commercial establishments and adequate power for farms.
He also said the Government was making all efforts to augment the coal production and the government is also expediting the completion of three critical rail lines in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha which will potentially yield 60 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2017-18 and up to 200 MT by 2021-22.
He also said that government will ensure speeding up environment clearances of the coal mining projects and at the same time take steps to protect the environment. Talking about coal linkage rationalisation he said 32,000 MW of old power plants would be modernised.
"Automatic transfer of linkages is being allowed from old and inefficient plants to ultra-modern supercritical plants in order to maximise power generation from the same amount of coal. Coal linkage rationalisation is also underway (Gujarat and Chhattisgarh swap completed) which aims to link power plants to the nearest mines."
Talking about lower hydel power production he said it was lower due to deficient monsoon. Goyal also said that several steps were being taken to resolve stranded gas-based capacity issue and plans have been made to use gas primarily to meet peak load demand or to meet exigencies. The minister also said that the Government has invested Rs 7,000 crore in power grid security in states.
The minister also said that the government has inherited a host of legacy problems in the power sector. Over 30 crore Indians do not have access to electricity, which has a deliberating impact on health care, eduction and income-enhancing opportunities. The minister also said he inherited a loss of Rs 3,00,000 crore from state electricity