The Consultative Committee attached to Ministries of Power and New & Renewable Energy met here yesterday evening under the chairmanship of Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable and Mines, Shri Piyush Goyal . The committee reviewed the functioning of NHPC Limited and Small Hydro Power.

The Consultative Committee meeting started with a presentation on NHPC by its Chairman and Managing Director, Shri K.M. Singh. The presentation outlined the evolution of NHPC since 1975, achievement of Mini Ratna status in 2008, its listing on NSE and BSE in 2009 and performance of financial parameters, the challenges ahead and the way forward.

All members congratulated the Government and the Ministry of Power on the efforts being made on the front of ensuring 24x7 Power for All and the role played by the net profit making PSU NHPC Ltd in this mission. Members gave their valuable suggestions to further improve the efficiency and viability of thermal and solar power projects being set up by NHPC as a step towards diversification of its portfolio. Some members suggested that the quality of power distribution infrastructure needs to be monitored and accountability needs to be fixed on the ground level so as to prevent corrupt practices and ensure that there is last mile coverage of beneficiaries.

Responding to the suggestions and queries raised by the Consultative Committee members, Shri Piyush Goyal directed the officials of the Power Ministry to make available all the details of funds sanctioned and disbursed to State Governments and the status of project implementation to all the Members of the Committee. It would help create accountability on the part of the States, he added. Shri Goyal assured Hon’ble Members that their valuable suggestions would be adopted by the Ministry & NHPC.

The second half of the meeting consisted of the Presentation on the Small Hydro Power (SHP) development programme in India, under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). It detailed the measures taken by the MNRE for SHP development in the country which included issuing guidelines and manuals for different technology and process aspects, setting up research labs at AHEC Roorkee, organizing training programmes and workshops, having close interaction with States and giving financial incentives. It further elaborated on the State-wise potential and achievements in SHP development, the challenges observed therein and the measures required to be adopted to overcome them.

The meeting was attended by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Shri Jugal Kishore Sharma, Shri Narayan Bhai Kachhadiya, Shri Satish Chandra Dubey, Shri Sushil Kumar Singh, Shri Uday Pratap Singh, Shri Rajesh Pandey, Shri Rajesh Ranjan from Lok Sabha and Shri Lal Singh Vadodia and Shri Mahesh Poddar from Rajya Sabha.

The Secretary, Power, Shri P.K. Pujari, the Chairman cum Managing Director & Directors of NHPC, and senior officials of Ministries of Power and New & Renewable Energy also attended the meeting.

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