CM orders completion of power generation projects on time
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 2 Jul: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami chaired a review meeting of the Energy Department at his office in the Secretariat here today. During the meeting, he directed the officials to work expeditiously towards increasing power generation in the state. The CM said that in order to double the power generation in the state within the next 5 years, the three power corporations, namely UPCL, UJVNL and PTCUL, need to work in greater coordination with each other.
Dhami also directed the three corporations to complete the projects in a timely manner. He said that energy and tourism have been the basic concept of the formation of the state of Uttarakhand. Stressing upon the need to work expeditiously in the state in the field of energy, he directed the officials to conduct safety audit of all the transformers in view of the rainy season. Keeping in mind the need to rapidly establish industries in the state, efforts should be expedited towards increasing power generation.
The Chief Minister said that the small hydropower projects on which work is currently being done should be completed in the earliest possible time. The electricity availability should be ensured through solar rooftops in government buildings. Greater efforts should be made in this direction so that more youth can get self-employment from the CM’s Solar Self-Employment Scheme. It should be ensured that maximum possible number of people can get the benefit of PM Surya Ghar Free Electricity Scheme in the state. He also directed that the process of construction of new power houses and updating the transmission line should be accelerated.
Dhami further issued instructions the corporations to work on an effective plan to reduce line loss and to speed up work on the plans to lay underground powerlines.
It was stated in the meeting that six small hydropower projects worth a total capacity of 121 MW have been allocated in the state, out of which 24MW Melekhet and 21 MW Khutani Hydroelectric Project will be completed by December 2026. At the same time, work on 22.80 MW Bernigad and 6 MW Rayat Hydroelectric Project will be started in the next two years. Under the Pump Storage Project in the state, preliminary feasibility report is being prepared on 200 MW Lakhwar-Byasi, 150 MW Byasi-Kata Patthar and 168 MW Kalagarh project. 1 MW Tiloth, Khatima and Dhakrani are being developed under Battery Energy Storage System.
Present in the meeting were Vice Chairman, Infrastructure Monitoring Council, Vishwas Dawar, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Principal Secretary RK Sudhanshu, Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram, Additional Secretaries Ranjana Rajguru and Ahmed Iqbal, MD, UJVNL, Sandeep Singhal, MD, PTCUL, UC Dhyani and other officers.
