3.34 lakh prepaid meters activated in state: Biswajit
Source: Chronicle News Service / DIPR
Imphal, September 23 2021:
Manipur has a total of 5.02 lakh power consumers out of which 3.34 lakh prepaid meters have already been installed and activated, said state Power minister Thongam Biswajit Singh attending a Video Conferencing with union minister of Power and New Renewable Energy Raj Kumar Singh and energy ministers, advisors of states and UTs to discuss the Revamped Distribution Scheme on Thursday.
The minister attended the virtual conference from his New Secretariat office.
Biswajit informed the union minister that the state still needs around 2 lakh more prepaid meters to cover the remaining hill and valley areas to improve revenue generation.
Addressing the VC, union minister Raj Kumar noted that the meeting is to discuss modernisation of systems to provide quality and reliable power supply to the consumers and reduce power losses.
After hearing a detailed report on state's performance in the power sector highlighted by Biswajit, the union minister commended the work and said it is an outstanding achievement.
Meanwhile Biswajit appreciated the initiatives of the union ministry through which states can modernise system and improve quality of power supply to the consumers and help in generating revenue for the state.
Regarding the ATC losses in the state, he stated that since formation of the government, the state has been able to bring ATC losses to 20.27 percent from 45 percent in the past.
"We are targeting to bring it down to 12-15 percent by 2023-24," he continued.
On Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme, Biswajit informed that formation of the Distribution Reforms Committee (DRC) has been completed and preparation of action plan and DPRs is under process.
He also said that state had requested for additional sanction for electrification of more households under the SAUBHAGYA Scheme and that the centre had already sanctioned Rs 100 crore.
However, the state is requesting for rectification of the sanction order as it needs more on grid sector, he said adding that the sanction order includes Rs 61 crore for Off-Grid and Rs 39 crore for Grid sectors.
The minister was accompanied by Power commissioner Kh Raghumani, Manipur State Power Distribution Company Ltd managing director Ng Subhachandra, Manipur State Power Company Ltd.
managing director N Sarat among others.