Introducing major power sector reforms, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, on Wednesday, launched the “Roshan Punjab” campaign worth more than Rs 5000 crore to make Punjab “the first power cut-free state of the country”.
Addressing the gathering after launching the Roshan Punjab campaign, Kejriwal said Punjab has witnessed unprecedented floods, due to which a lot of devastation took place, but the brave people of the state have combated it strongly.
Talking about Roshan Punjab, he said that none of the governments at the Centre or in states had ever dreamt about this ambitious project, but the Punjab government has taken this historic initiative. He said the Rs 5,000-crore project would make Punjab free from power outages through the complete transformation of the transmission and distribution network. “With this project, Punjab will receive uninterrupted 24-hour power supply by next year, which is why the project has been named Roshan Punjab,” he added.
Lauding Mann for preparing the blueprint for this project, Kejriwal said new substations and power lines would be set up and the load on feeders would be reduced under this project. “The focus will be on building new infrastructure, upgrading existing systems and enhancing maintenance in the power sector. This will eliminate the issue of voltage fluctuation, especially in rural and remote areas, and significantly improve power supply,” he said.
Kejriwal said special projects have also been implemented to improve power systems in large cities. He said that in the 13 municipal corporations, a project has been launched to improve the low-tension network and thereby reduce accidents.
Mann said realising that power is the lifeline of the economy, the state government has taken several key initiatives to augment the power sector. He said that contrary to the fact that the assets of the country are being sold at meagre prices to the friends of the Union government, the state has created history by purchasing the Goindwal power plant owned by a private company, GVK Power.
Also read: Kejriwal on 2-day Punjab visit
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