A.P. govt. has no plans to privatise power sector: Energy Minister

The authorities has no intention to privatise the power sector, Energy Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy has stated.

Describing the reviews that the federal government is planning to promote away the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Plant (RTPP) to these eager on taking it over as mere speculations, the Minister appealed to the staff not to imagine within the falsehoods being unfold by vested pursuits.

“The government is committed to solving all the issues pertaining to the sector, which has been brought to its notice,” he advised the media on the Secretariat on Wednesday, whereas mentioning that the State authorities has conveyed in writing about its opposition to the Electricity Amendment Bill, 2020.

Smart meter

Mr. Srinivasa Reddy stated the sensible meters had been being fastened to agriculture pumpset connections with the consent of farmers and that the federal government wouldn’t renege on its promise of free nine-hour power provide to the farm sector in the course of the daytime.

“The government is working to achieve the capacity addition of 10,000 megawatt solar energy to exclusively cater to the needs of the farm sector. The agriculture feeder network is also being strengthened with an investment of ₹1,700 crore,” he stated.

Outsourced staff

The Minister stated that 7,000 linemen and 172 assistant engineers had been recruited in a brief span of time to overcome the scarcity of manpower.

“The government is sympathetic to the problems being faced by the outsourced workers. However, the matter of regularisation of their services is under the consideration of a Cabinet sub-committee and the recommendations are awaited,” he stated.

The EPF and GPF, compassionate appointments and plenty of such points associated to the human assets can be sorted out on the earliest, the Minister stated, including that the federal government would go away no stone unturned to enhance the operational efficiencies.

Energy secretary N. Srikant, APGenco MD B. Sreedhar and DISCOMs’ CMDs Nagalakshmi Selvarajan, H. Haranatha Rao and J. Padma Janardhan Reddy had been current on the event.

Meeting with JAC

Earlier within the day, the Minister held deliberations with a delegation of the Andhra Pradesh State Power Employees’ Joint Action Committee which has demanded that the federal government type out sure essential points being confronted by the power sector instantly, if it needs them not to go for a state-wide agitation.