Dr MP Sood is an action-oriented and people-friendly Himachal Administrative Services bureaucrat. Holding a doctorate in plant breeding, he is at present Secretary, Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Arun Lavania spoke to him about the state of affairs in the power sector of the state:
gfiles: What are your priorities in the power sector?
MP Sood: The Chief Minister, Dr Prem Kumar Dhumal, has given top priority to the utilization of Himachal’s hydro-electric power potential, which is estimated to be 20,416 MW — 25 per cent of the total hydro-electric power potential of the country.
gfiles: And do you think such utilization is possible?
MPS: Yes, it is. Our state has five major river systems originating from the Western Himalaya — Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, and Yamuna. The Sutlej basin alone has a potential of 9,867 MW, followed by the Beas basin with 4,627 MW. Power projects with HPSEB, Central PSUs, and the joint sector are in full swing, and the Chief Minister is taking a personal interest in fuller utilization of potential. Therefore, I see no reason for non-utilization.
‘HP has the lowest
domestic tariff in the
country, lowest trans
mission and distribution
loss in the country, and
100 per cent consumer
metering. We have also
implemented-time-
of-day tariff’
gfiles: More power projects means increasing corruption during their allotments at the initial stage.
MPS: I must tell you that HP does not face this problem. The Chief Minister’s Strict guidelines are to keep the business transparent, ensure fairplay and not compromise the quality and efficiency. Accordingly, at the first Cabinet meeting, it was decided to allot projects above 5 MW through open competitive bidding. Earlier, signing of “memorandum of understanding” was enough to allot projects up to 100 MW. If the Metro rail is the pride of Delhi, the power sector is our pride. The state has the lowest domestic tariff in the country, lowest transmission and distribution loss in the country, and 100 per cent consumer metering. We have also implemented time-of-day tariff and introduced incentivized KVAH-based tariff.
gfiles: In difficult terrain like yours, it seems a far cry to minimize transmission and distribution losses.
MPS: We have done it. The Accelerated Power Development Reforms Programme was started on June 16, 2001, when the Dhumal government was earlier in power, and the significant reduction of such losses from 26.61 per cent to 16.50 per cent over a period of about six years can be safely attributed to the implementation of this scheme.
gfiles: What are your other concerns?
MPS: To name a few, rural electrification, improvement in material procurement position, upgrading information technology, better consumer services and launching public interaction programme.
