Power minister says output up 22%, blames states for blackouts - Times of India

A file photo of power outage in Mumbai. Power and coal minister Piyush Goyal has blamed the state governments for blackouts.

The author has posted comments on this article TNN | Sep 8, 2014, 02.59AM IST

NEW DELHI: Power and coal minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said generation from coal-fired stations had risen 22% in the 100 days of the NarendraModi government but some states were facing outages due to lack of initiatives or disputes with private companies where the Centre has no role.

Acknowledging he has inherited a "crisis-ridden" sector, Goyal said the NDA government was determined to ensure 24x7 power supply and would do all it takes in the interest of the "last man standing".

In recent times, some power stations in the western region shut down partially due to fuel shortage. Another 28 have less than four days' coal stock. Two units of Tata group's Mundra plants went off the grid due to technical snag and Adani group switched off a major part of its Mundra project due to tariff dispute with five customer states -- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab.

While the problems were distinct, the resultant blackouts gave rise to a negative perception about the government's handling of the power situation, even though coal-fired plants were asked to raise generation to meet shortfall from hydel sources in the face of rising demand due to poor monsoon. The problem, Goyal inferred, lay in the system implemented by the UPA regime, and the long dry spell exposed the fault lines.

"There is no low coal supply... The materialization of coal is as per the plan in the last few years. The fact that coal production has not increased is the reality that I have inherited... I cannot increase coal production in 100 days... but the fact is that using the available resources, we have increased electricity supply by 22% which is only coal-based," Goyal told reporters.

He said the Centre had no role -- except as a mediator -- in the tariff dispute between the "private party" and its consumer states. The Centre was not party to the agreement between private power producers and states, which have to sort out the issue in the interest of the people.

On the long blackouts in UP, Goyal said the Centre was unable to do anything due to poor law and order situation and lack of cooperation from the state government. He was quick to point out that he did not want politics over power problems and would extend all possible help to tackle the problem - provided the state government came forward. "Not a single scheme has been proposed from UP under power development fund or RGVVY (village electrification programme)."

"It is unfortunate that we have 71 MPs from the state, but we are unable to do anything on power problem in their areas due to non-cooperation of the state government," Goyal said.