Government Releases Funds for Power Development and Reforms Projects

The Ministry of Power has released Rs. 4029 Crores for taking up new projects under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development & Reforms Programme (R- APDRP). These projects will be taken up in two parts. While the Part-A will be for establishing IT enabled systems for energy accounting/ auditing and SCADA for big cities, Part-B will be for regular distribution upgradation and strengthening projects.

Out of the total released amount, Rs. 3903 Crores are in the form of loan for disbursement to state utilities while Rs. 126 Crores are as grant against enabling component for implementation of R-APDRP. Expressing satisfaction over the progress of the programme, the Union Power Minister, Shri Sushilkumar Shinde said here that all the States and Union Territories have invited Request for Proposals (RFPs) for appointing IT Implementing agencies for executing Part-A projects. So far 21 States and Union Territories have already appointed IT Implementing agencies.

The R-APDRP was launched in July, 2008 as a Central Sector Scheme with a total outlay of Rs. 51,577 Crores with an objective to reduce AT&C losses. The outlay for Part-A is Rs. 10,000 crore and for Part-B, it is Rs. 40,000 crore. The programme covers towns and cities with population more than 30,000 (10,000 for special category States).

While the Part-A projects worth Rs. 5177 Crores covering almost all the eligible 1401 towns have already been sanctioned, an additional 28 SCADA projects worth Rs. 669 Crores have also been sanctioned in six states including Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Besides this, 823 projects worth Rs. 15,975 crores have been approved in 14 states including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Haryana under Part-B.

The use of Information Technology in distribution network through R-APDRP programme will help in establishment of complete energy auditing and accounting system, consumer indexing upto distribution transformer, facilitate meter reading, billing, collection, preparation of MIS, redressal of consumer grievances and establishment of IT enabled customer care centre.