The Steering Committee on Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (RAPDRP), chaired by Secretary, Ministry of Power, in its meeting on 30th June, approved projects for 423 towns in Gujarat, Punjab, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The estimated cost of these projects is Rs16.14bn. Prior to these, 599 projects at the cost of Rs19.48bn were approved for 13 states. With these new projects being announced, the total cost of the 1,022 projects approved for implementation by the Ministry of Power is Rs35.6bn.

This will give a boost to IT and electrical equipment sector of Indian industry. RAPDRP is part of the fiscal stimulus package announced by the Government of India. These projects are for establishment of baseline data and IT applications for energy accounting/ auditing & IT based consumer service centres and aims at reduction of AT&C loss and improvement in consumer services. PFC is the Nodal Agency for RAPDRP.

The focus of the programme is on actual, demonstrable performance in terms of AT&C loss reduction. Projects under the scheme to be taken up in two parts in urban areas – towns and cities with population of more than 30,000 (10,000 in case of special category states). Part A projects are for establishment of baseline data and IT applications for energy accounting/ auditing & IT based consumer service centres and Part-B is regular distribution strengthening projects.