Energy dept budget passed

Patna: Bihar legislative assembly on Thursday passed the energy department’s budget of Rs 8,436.89 crore by voice vote amid ruckus and walkout by the BJP members.
Energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, who tabled the budget and replied to the debate on cut motion moved by BJP MLA Vinod Narayan Jha, listed generation, transmission, distribution, connection and collection as the five important factors in the power sector.“Power and communication are the basic requirements for the development of any region,” Yadav said.
The minister also pitched for abolition of regional tariff system and said a national tariff system should be put in place by the Union government. “I have also taken up the same with the Union power minister as backward states end up paying more in the existing system,” Yadav said.
Targeting the BJP MLAs for claiming Bihar was receiving increased power due to PM Narendra Modi, Yadav said, “Our Constitution provides for federal nature of governance and power is not the sole responsibility of the state. It is not only ‘Modi ji ki bijlee’ as you are claiming. I have heard of no technology where power can be generated in 9 months. It needs at least three years to reach the people.” The Ultra Mega Power Plant (UMPP) announced by the Centre at Banka is not a favour to Bihar, he added.
With state assembly election only a few months away, CM Nitish Kumar’s reported ‘promise of not seeking votes if every household in the state doesn’t have electricity connection’ was also raised in the House during the debate. “Nitish ji had said he would not seek votes if the power situation in the state didn’t improve. It is clear that the power availability is much better than earlier. It was the media which distorted his comments,” JD(U) legislators chorused.
Yadav said while 50% households were electrified in the state, work is underway to provide power to the remaining households. Some of the new initiatives taken by the department include headquarters-level project monitoring, remote meter-reading and prepaid metering. The energy minister also pitched for developing non-conventional energy sources which he said were the future of power sector.
The opposition staged a walkout when Yadav asked what the power generation capacity of Gujarat was. BJP MLAs came back into the Lower House only after passing of the budget.
Moving the cut motion, BJP MLA Jha said, “The per capita consumption of electricity in the state is 144KW and the state is much behind the national average which is over 900KW.” He also said if things in the state capital were not well and electricity conductors were hung with bamboo poles, the condition of the districts could well be imagined.