Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde announced that the new power policy for the North-East has been finalized while participating at the National Conclave on ‘Accelerated Development of Power Sector in the North-East region and Sikkim’ which was held in Guwahati recently. The conclave was organized by the Ministry of Power and the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in partnership with Ministry of DoNER, NEC and all the states of North-East and Sikkim.

Apart from top officials from Ministry of Power, CEA, DoNER and NEC, there were also top level representations from NEEPCO, NHPC, CBIP, NTPC, Power Grid, BHEL, etc as also participation of the officials of respective electricity boards of the North-Eastern states.

Speaking at the conclave, the Union Power Minister said that “North Eastern Region of the country is rich in energy resources and will take a major responsibility in meeting the energy requirement of the country in future. The region has huge hydro potential and is carted power house of the country. The development in North-Eastern region has lagged behind the rest of the country due to historical reasons despite the region being rich in natural resources with fertile land, rich forests and substantive mineral and hydro carbons deposits.”

“Presently North Eastern Region has an installed capacity of 2561 MW and is having a peak deficit of the order of 20% and energy deficit of 11.5% The region has to develop its infrastructures to overcome this shortage. Road, bridge, rail network, transmission systems and also human resource development will require special attention.^”

“The reassessment studies of hydro-electric potential of the country carried out in 1987 have estimated 38% of the total hydroelectric potential in the country in North Eastern Region. Government of India launched '50,000 MW Hydro Electric Initiative' in May, 2003 under which Preliminary Feasibility Reports of 62 schemes with aggregate installed capacity of 30,416 MW In North Eastern Region and 10 schemes of Sikkim with total Installed capacity of 1,469 MW have been prepared.

The new hydro policy has now been finalized. As per this policy, an .additional 1% free power from the project would be provided and earmarked for Local Area Development Fund, aimed at providing a regular stream of revenue for income generation and welfare schemes. This will help in overall development of project area. Apart from this each project affected family will get 100 units of electricity free every month for 10 years. Thus, project affected families will have a steady Income from the project.

A capacity addition programme of 4261 MW has been envisaged during the 11th Plan to meet the power requirement of the North Eastern Region. The major projects during 11th plan are Lower Subansiri HEP (2000 MW), Kameng HEP (1200 MW), and Bonaaigaon TPS (750MW) and Tripura Gas (,750 MW). The North-Eastern Region would be able to meet its power requirements and surplus power could be evacuated through the narrow transmission. Corridor for supply to deficit North and Western region. A master plan for evacuation of power is being prepared by CEA considering the huge, hydro potential, available in the Region.

Since the Transmission and Sub-Transmission System is being strengthened by State Governments with the help of APDRP schemes, the distribution system is not being given proper attention by the states. Inadequate Distribution system is a major constraint In the Region- The power is not reaching to the people of the states. The transmission and the sub-transmission system of region remains under utilized and are not able to absorb the allocated shares from Central Sector Power Stations. The states need to take effective steps to strengthen the Distribution System and reduce the Distribution losses in a phased manner. Regulatory Commissions are to be made functional for bringing efficiency in distribution through notification of regulations.

|  Headlines  |  Editorial   | Cover story  |
|  Travel Column   |   News Briefs  |
| OT Main Page | Nena  Home Page  |