Create awareness on the benefits of power privatisation, Union Home Secretary tells officials in U.T.

Union Home Secretary emphasizes benefits of power privatisation in Union Territory during high-level review meeting with officials.

At a high-level review meeting in the Chief Secretariat on Monday, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan asked officials to create awareness about the benefits of bringing a private player into power distribution network in the Union Territory.

Mr. Mohan, at the official-level review meeting held mainly to discuss the implementation of Central Sector schemes in the Union Territory, suggested holding consultation with various stakeholders in the power sector. He stressed on the need to create awareness about the benefits of privatisation for consumers with respect to quality of power and pricing, sources said.

He said at the meeting that power distribution system was privatised in Delhi long ago and the consumers in the national capital are enjoying the benefits after the entry of the private player. Following the request of the unions, the territorial administration has revised the percentage of the sale of shares of the Electricity Department from 100% to 51%.

The remarks about power privatisation that the Home Secretary made at the review meeting come after a letter written by Union Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik to Member of Parliament V. Vaithilingam justifying the decision for privatising power. The letter, which was in response to the objection raised by Mr. Vaithilingam in the Lok Sabha against electricity privatisation, has given enough hints about the Centre’s inclination towards privatising the department.

“Though the electricity privatisation was just a small part of the review meeting, the intent of the Central government is clear from the observations made by the Home Secretary. He wants us to interact with all stakeholders to educate them on the benefits of power privatisation. It is clear from his remarks that the Centre wants the Union Territory to move ahead with administrative as well as legal measures, to implement the policy,” said an official who was part of the review meeting.

The move by the Union Government comes amid strong opposition from the Opposition parties against privatisation of the power distribution network. The review meeting, which lasted for around two hours, was devoted to deliberating on the implementation of flagship schemes of the Central government. The Home Secretary was appreciative of the part that around 60% to 70 % of the schemes have achieved saturation. He gave officials inputs on how to work with the schemes further, the official said.

He also underscored the need for the Union Territory to improve on the Swachatha ranking in the country. He was of the opinion that there was immense scope for improvement in the area. The Home Secretary also offered suggestions on fast tracking Smart City projects in Puducherry. He provided inputs on how to improve the skilling programmes taken up by the Labour Department.