30,000 Megawatt thermal power added in last 20 months: Goyal

The Minister of State (IC) for power, Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that 30,000 megawatt more capacity of thermal power has been added during last 20 months of present government. Addressing an interactive session organized by Indian Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, Goyal Said, power being the most important ingredient of infrastructure for nation’s development, the government is laying utmost emphasis on this sector. The Minister informed that his ministry has achieved 60 per cent working capacity of power plants and has a target of 90 per cent working capacity which will be achieved in near future. Asserting that India’s Coal production has increased substantially by 9.6 per cent which has resulted in remarkable reduction in our coal imports, the Minister said, his ministry is now emphasizing on creating more marketing facilities for coal. Goyal said that more than 5 crore 36 lakh LED bulbs have been given out at government subsidized rates due to which the rate per bulb has come down from Rs.310 to Rs.64 and within a short time it will come down further to make it affordable for common man. He added that this has resulted in 1600 MW reduction in power consumption and said that by this year March, 10 crore of LED bulbs will be given out. This will result in a huge reduction in power consumption and drastic cut in pollution. Regarding transmission, the Minister said, during the present government 22,000 circuit Kms of transmission line has been drawn which is a record. During last 18 months, 71 per cent of additional transmission capacity has been created and by 2019 it will reach 200 per cent.