New energy secretary to battle gas diversion

In view of severe shortage of fuel, particularly the diversion of natural gas to Maharashtra, leading to large-scale shortage of power, the state government has decided to vigorously pursue additional allotment with the ministry of petroleum and natural gas and the power ministry, new principal secretary, energy department, Mrutyunjay Sahoo has said.

Interacting with top officials of the power sector on Saturday, a day when he took charge, Sahoo said that the energy department is going to concentrate on effective monitoring of grid safety, security and stability in view of the recent collapse of Northern, North-Eastern and Eastern grids, which left around half of the country without electricity.

Keeping in view the ever increasing demand-supply gap, the state government is contemplating strengthening the power sector by enhancing generation capacity, infrastructure development, reducing T&D losses and providing satisfactory supply to all categories of consumers to the maximum extent possible, he added. Sahoo said that the power sector is the main focus of the government.