Lok Sabha Question No. 186 (STARRED), answered on 2018-03-08
Subject: Load Shedding in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: BISHNU PADA RAY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.186 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.03.2018

## LOAD SHEDDING IN ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS

*186.  SHRI BISHNU PADA RAY:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  general  public  made  agitation/dharna/protest  against  the  UT Administration  on  account  of  unlimited  load  shedding  in  Andaman  and  Nicobar Islands;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the reaction of the Government thereto and  the  action  taken  by  the  Administration  to  restore  the  power  supply  in  the Islands;
- (c) whether the Government  has  received demand  from  the Member  of Parliament representing Andaman and Nicobar Islands vide letter No.  97/MP/ANI/ Perl/2017/Del-743 dated 21.12.2017 for resolving the power crisis in Andaman and Nicobar Islands; and
- (d) if  so,  the  action  taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to provide uninterrupted/24x7 power supply in the Islands?

## A N S W E R

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

( SHRI  R. K. SINGH )

(a) to (d) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.186 TO BE ANSWERED IN THE LOK SABHA ON 08.03.2018 REGARDING LOAD SHEDDING IN ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS.

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(a) to (d) : People protested against the UT Administration of Andaman and Nicobar Islands  against the load shedding due to sudden closure of 20 MW Plant,  Bambooflat  during  July,  2017.  In  this  regard,  a  letter  from  Hon'ble Member of Parliament representing Andaman and Nicobar dated 21.12.2017 has also been received in the Ministry of Power, Government of India.

The  steps  taken  for  improvement  of  power  supply  position  in Andaman & Nicobar (A&N) Islands are as under:-

- i. Administration of Andaman & Nicobar Islands has signed an agreement on 27.07.2017 with M/s Sudhir Ready Genset Consortium, New  Delhi  for  supply  of  10  MW  continuous  power  to  Electricity Department, A&N Administration for a period of 02 years.
- ii. The Department of Power,  Andaman and Nicobar Islands  placed a Letter  of  Award  on  01.09.2017  for  establishment  of  15  MW  Power Plant  to  procure  power  from  M/s  Perennial  Technologies  Pvt.  Ltd., Pune  but  the  firm  backed  out  from  executing  the  project  and  the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) by the firm has been forfeited.
- iii. A meeting  was  held on 10.01.2018 in the Ministry of Power, Government of India and following decisions were taken to augment power supply in A&N Islands:
4.  NTPC has been entrusted to establish 15 MW Power Plant in South Andaman before 31st March 2018 as a short term solution to tide over the present power crisis.
5.  To set up 50 MW Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) based power plant for ensuring availability of firm power round the clock.
6.  NTPC Ltd. and NLC India Ltd. to setup solar power plants of 25 MW and 20 MW capacity respectively along with requisite Battery Energy Storage  System  (BESS)  to  absorb  the  intermittencies  due  to  cloud movement etc.
- iv. Under  Deen  Dayal Upadhyaya  Gram  Jyoti  Yojana  (DDUGJY)  & Integrated  Power  Development  Scheme  (IPDS)  the  following  steps have been taken:
8.  The  Detailed  Project  Reports  (DPRs)  submitted  by  the  Electricity Department of A&N were approved by the Monitoring Committee.
9.  The  Monitoring  Committee  has  sanctioned  Rs.  20.96  Crores  for DDUGJY  &  Rs  17.86  Crores  for  Integrated  Power  Development Scheme  (IPDS)  in  accordance  with  the  DPRs  submitted  by  the Electricity Department.

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