Business Standard reports on this. Following are some excerpts.

The central government has offered Orissa Rs 10,000 crore for various power sector initiatives. The amount will be invested over a period of five years in rural, semi-urban and urban areas.

“The funds will be utilised for improving generation, distribution and transmission of power in Orissa,” A K Lakhina, chairman and managing director, Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), said.

Orissa has been facing difficulties in privatisation of the sector as private enterprises are unable to pursue rural electrification with vigour, he said.

He said, the Centre has utilised the services of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) and National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) for taking up rural electrification in Orissa.

While four projects have already been sanctioned for Nayagarh, Anugul ,Ganjam and Gajapati, projects in three more districts have received the Centre’s in principle approval. All the remaining districts of the state will be covered under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), he said.

There was a feeling that villages and hamlets with sub-300 populations would not be covered under RGGVY. Orissa, having many such hamlets, was apprehensive of the success of the programme in the state. Lakhina said, the Union government is aware of the issue and the limit may be reduced to cover villages and hamlets with population of 100.

It may be noted, the Orissa government had announced launching of ‘Biju Gramjyoti Yojana’ to provide electricity to the villages and rural hamlets having less than 300 population. It also made a budget allocation of Rs.50 crore during 2007-08 for this programme.

Interestingly, the Orissa government has sought assistance of about Rs. 600 crore from REC for improving transmission. REC will examine the proposal, Lakhina said.

On reducing the transmission and distribution losses, the REC chairman said he has requested Patnaik to undertake underground wiring in the state’s premier cities which could be expanded to other areas.