Standing Committee on Energy calls for increase in GEC funding

In its 39th Parliamentary report, “Demands for Grants of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for the year 2018-19”, the Standing Committee on Energy has asked for an increase in the funding for meeting the timeline set for creating the Green Energy Corridor project in India. The committee has pointed out that although the target for transmission line installations in 2018-19 is more than five times the target for 2017-18, the budget has only increased by 20 per cent. For 2017-18, Rs 5 billion was provided for the installation of 350 ckt. km of transmission lines and for 2018-19 only Rs 6 billion has been allocated for the installation of 1,900 ckt. km of transmission lines. Therefore, there is a mismatch between this year’s goal and the funds allocated. Moreover, the cumulative target by March 2019 has been set at 3,000 ckt. km of transmission lines, which would leave the remaining 5,500 ckt. km to be installed during 2019-20 to reach the stipulated cumulative target of 8,500 ckt. km by March 2020. The committee is therefore apprehensive of attaining the set target.