New Delhi, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Shri R.K. Singh said that the government is aiming to harness electricity for cooking in a big way as it will provide the poor strata of the society a cheaper option for their day to day requirement, move the nation towards self-reliance and make it independent from imports.
“Electricity is the future of India and most of its infrastructure will be powered by electricity. The Government has envisaged Power Foundation to be formed at the Ministry’s level, including cooking to completely run on electricity, which will allow our economy to be self-reliant and give us independence from imports. This government is for the poor and this move will help the poor strata of the society by giving them access to the cheaper medium of cooking,” Shri Singh said.
Speaking from New Delhi, the Power Minister rolled out the vision for the government while inaugurating a Service Building at NPGCL, Nabinagar, a Shopping Complex developed by NTPC for the people of Barh and the Main Plant Canteen inside NTPC Barauni for convenience of NTPC employees and associates. The minister added that the delivery of various other pro poor measures like PM Awas Yojna and Har Ghar Bijlee, were accelerated during the lockdown by Hon PM Shri Narendra Modi.
“In the past years, work done by NTPC has been acknowledged across the country. NTPC Family is recognised for its professionalism and efficiency and have set an example for not just the state of Bihar but also for the country. Questions have always been raised on the performance of PSUs, but looking at the performance of NTPC and other Power PSUs, it is clear that they are even better than the private players and have consistently made progress and profit. I thank NTPC for being a partner in the progress for the state of Bihar as well as other states towards nation building.” The expansion of NTPC will continue and it will keep setting benchmarks in professionalism, efficiency and being an ideal employer, professionalism and efficiency.
Speaking during the inauguration function, Shri Gurdeep Singh, CMD, NTPC said, “Under the guidance of Shri R K Singh, NTPC is taking every possible step to shift towards electricity based cooking and we are confident of replicating it across the nation.” He further said, “During the lockdown phase, NTPC ensured that not just the employees, but even the contract labourers were paid on time through the professionally managed system of the company along with food, shelter and medical facilities. We also ensured that the country received an uninterrupted power supply during the lockdown phase.” He also added that, “NTPC has 3800 MW of project under construction in Bihar and will keep on contributing to the progress of the state.”
During the inauguration ceremony, films on Service Building at NPGCL Nabinagar, Shopping Complex in Barh and Main Plant Canteen at NTPC Barauni was shown to stakeholders present on the occasion. With a total installed capacity of 62.9 GW, NTPC Group has 70 Power stations comprising of 24 Coal, 7 combined cycle Gas/Liquid Fuel, 1 Hydro, 13 Renewables along with 25 Subsidiary & JV Power Stations. The group has over 20 GW of capacity under construction, of which 5GW comprises of renewable energy.