After setting a benchmark in power generation, West Bengal reached yet another milestone in the sector last month. On 18 April, the state pick up to more than 11,500 MW, which is the highest since inception, informed state power department minister Aroop Biswas today.
The minister was speaking during the second ‘East Energy Conclave,’ organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce. As reiterated by Mr Biswas, in the recent past there was a coal crisis in the country and almost every state imported coal from other nations.
“There were power cuts in almost every state, including Gujarat, from where the Prime Minister belongs. But West Bengal was the only state where there was no power cut even for a minute during the said period. On 18 April, state pick up reached more than 11,500 MW which is the highest since inception. On that day, West Bengal handled the situation efficiently, without any interruption of power,” underscored the minister.
According to Mr Biswas, ‘load shading’ was a popular term of the Left regime. Under the present government, as claimed by the minister, the consumer growth in Bengal has been massive in the last few years from 85 lakh in 2011 to 2 crore 53 lakh at present. “Our focus is on the electrification of the household under the Sobar Ghore Alo with creation of robust infrastructure for the betterment of consumer service, improvement of operational efficiency and easing of process,” claimed Mr Biswas, who is also the minister for sports and youth affairs department.
Highlighting various initiatives for digitalization of the state power department, the minister informed that now almost 68 per cent revenue of the WBSEDCL is collected through online mode.