India A Energy Sufficient Nation, Say Union Minister Shripad Naik

Answering a question asked in Rajya Sabha about what the Ministry of Power was doing about the rising demand for electricity in the country, Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik said that the government has addressed the critical issue of power deficiency by adding 234 GW of generation capacity since 2014. In a written reply to a question asked by Mr Beeda Masthan Rao of YSR Congress, in Rajya Sabha, Mr Naik said, the government has transformed the country from power deficit to power sufficient. He said, a robust national grid has been established to facilitate the transfer of power from power surplus regions to power deficit regions.

Mr Naik said that since 2014, the government had an additional of 2,01,088 circuit kilometer (ckm) of Transmission lines has been laid, 7,78,017 MVA of Transformation capacity and 82,790 MW of Inter-Regional capacity work had been done.

Mr Naik further added that the government has proposed for setting up of an additional minimum 80 thousand MW coal based capacity by 2031-32.