Goyal to open state power ministers’ meet on May 3

New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) Union Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal will inaugurate a two-day conference of state power ministers here on May 3, which will also be attended by senior officials from government as well as public sector undertakings (PSUs), an official said on Sunday.

"The main purpose of the conference is to review the implementation of various ongoing schemes and programmes and to deliberate on a host of issues pertaining to power, mining, coal and renewable energy sectors," a Union Power Ministry release here said.

"In the mining sector, deliberations will concentrate on important issues such as auction preparedness of blocks for 2017-18 already under preparation by the states," it said.

Besides, "the status of project implementation under Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana and curbing illegal mining through mining surveillance system (MSS) with specific reference to the illegal sand mining" will also be discussed, it added.

Issues on the agenda for discussions include "24x7 power for all, strategies and action plan for 100 per cent household electrification and smart metering power reforms, energy conservation, energy-efficient agriculture pumps, cyber security and promotion of digital payments in the power sector".

"In the area of renewable energy, the ministers will discuss guidelines for renewable projects."

For the coal sector, deliberations would focus on issues like flexibility in utilisation of domestic coal for reducing cost of power generation and use of domestic coal instead of imported coal, the ministry said.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)