Bhubaneswar: Hike in power tariff has become
essential in Orissa, a power surplus state barely an year ago,
which is now passing through a phase of severe crisis, state
finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai said today.
"The power sector is passing through severe crisis. The
government has no alternative other than funding the sector in
order to save it," Ghadai said, while addressing a workshop on
"Tariff Setting Vis-a-Vis Sustainable Development of Power
Sector in Orissa".
In order to meet the power requirement, Orissa has to
purchase electricity from other states at a higher price and
the tariff would be hiked under such circumstances, he said.
Predicting further worsening of the power scenario in the
state, Ghadai told the gathering of panchayat and urban body
representatives that the number of electricity consumers would
touch 64 lakh by 2011-12 against the present 30 lakh figure.
This doubling of consumers would be possible because of
rural electrification drive through the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen
Vidyutkaran Yojana and Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana, he added.
The finance minister pointed out that the state was
presently facing shortage of about 500 MW to 600 MW daily.
While the requirement was about 3,000 MW, the state could
arrange only 2400 MW from various sources.
-PTI
