CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FOR POWER MEET TO REVIEW THE ACTIVITIES OF DVC



The Consultative Committee of the Members of Parliament for the Ministry of Power met today in Ranchi to review the activities of the Damodar Valley Corporation, DVC. The Chairman of the Committee and the Union Power Minister, Shri Sushilkumar Shinde welcomed the Members and apprised them of the multifaceted activities taken up by the DVC. He said that the DVC has taken a lead role in accomplishing the central sector target for capacity addition by pledging to add 9460 MW within the 11th Plan and another 1320 MW by end of 2012, when Raghunathpur TPS Phase-II with 2X2=660 MW Unit with super critical technology will be commissioned. Thus, the DVC will be having a thermal operating capacity of 10780 MW in another four years' time which will be about five times the capacity of 2210 MW at the end of the 10th Plan. He informed the Members that by generating 14732 million unit during last year, the DVC thermal unit have created a new record surpassing previous year's generation by 7%. This year the DVC is anticipating further improvement to the tune of 20%.

Shri Shinde lauded the efforts of the DVC for also taking up projects in social sector through various new initiatives to improve the quality of life of the people living in the Damodar Valley.

The Minister of State for Power and Commerce, Shri Jairam Ramesh was present in the meeting. The Members of Parliament who participated in the meeting included Shri Basudeb Acharya, Shri E. Ponnuswamy, Shri Harish Rawat, Shri S.K. Kharventhan, Smt. Neeta Pateriya, Shri. A. R. Shaheen, Shri Chandershekhar Dubey, Shri B.P. Mehta, Shri Teklal Mahto, Shri S.S. Deshmukh and Shri D.S. Paraste. Secretary, Ministry of Power, Shri Anil Razdan, other senior officials of the Ministry and the Chairman and Managing Director of several PSUs were also present.

CMD, DVC, Shri A.K. Burman made a detailed presentation on the initiatives and issues related to the activities of the Corporation. The Members praised the multidimensional job of the DVC, particularly its contribution to provide electricity in un-electrified villages under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. In Jharkhand, DVC has taken the responsibility to electrify 83775 villages. Some of the Members also gave suggestions to further improve the performance of the DVC. These included water conservation and water management for greater industrialization, more power generation, better HR management, more local participation, etc.

DVC, the dream child of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, is the first multipurpose river valley project of the country set up after independence on the lines of Tennessee Valley Authority of the United States of America. It later emerged as a harbinger of economic prosperity in the valley by taking up multifaceted activities as diverse as flood control, irrigation, generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, afforestation and soil conservation and socio-economic development.