Express news service

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has reiterated the need to control population even as choosing not to support efforts made during Emergency to achieve the objective.

Speaking at a function in Bhopal on Sunday, Chouhan had lauded the efforts made by Sanjay Gandhi during Emergency for population control.

A target has been set in Madhya Pradesh to supply 24-hour power to the rural areas by the year 2013. The state government has signed MoUs with 28 private companies for generation of 40 thousand megawatt power with a view to meeting this target.

Ajay Modi & Jyoti Mukul / New Delhi August 27, 2010, 1:35 IST

Taking advantage of its vast pipeline network, GAIL (India) is planning to put up a gas-based power plant each in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The state of Madhya Pradesh plans to provide solar power to 425 villages by the end of the 2010 financial year, and has plans to generate 200MW of power through solar energy by 2013, suggest reports.

The state is developing a full infrastructure solar park in the village of Ganeshpura, Gujarat, on 300 acres of land.

Along with use of conventional resources, other sources like solar, wind, biomass, under-ground energy will also be tapped for increasing power production in the state. Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan said this while performing the bhumi pujan of the First solar Energy Park at Ganeshpura Village in Rajgarh district today.

Minister of State for Energy and Mineral Resources (Independent charge) Shri Rajendra Shukla has said that self-reliance in the power sector is necessary for making Madhya Pradesh prosperous. He exhorted the departmental engineers to essay an important role in providing better services to the power consumers.

Efforts are being made to reduce electricity consumption considerably on street lights in urban areas. Jabalpur Municipal Corporation is doing commendable job in this direction. In Jabalpur a most modern electric appliance called Mudra Electromizer is being installed in the area of every feeder. This is expected to reduce the electric consumption on street lights up to 30 per cent.

There are complaints from the investors that the State government takes a very long time in allotting land for setting up power projects. This not only delays industrialisation but also enhances the cost of the project. Hence the government is being criticised for entering into pacts with industrialists but going slow later.

Bhopal: Chief Secretary Shri Avnish Vaish had a detailed discussion here with the representatives of the private companies about the problems they are facing while implementing the projects of power production. On this occasion concerned senior officers of the state government were present.

Concerted efforts are being undertaken in Madhya Pradesh for increasing power generation. For this purpose, various schemes and projects are under construction in different phases due to which power generation in Madhya Pradesh will go up by 5,486 by the year 2013-14.