Report of Indian Institute of Public Administration ... - Ministry of Power

CHAPTER - 1
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations have been extracted from Chapter-6, Volume I of the National
Report.
For easy and ready reference, Para Nos of Volume-I have been retained. (For
clarifications/further details, please refer to Chapter-6, Volume-I of the National
Report.)
6.1 Political Commitment and Support
6.1.5 Reform efforts in the politically sensitive power sector would succeed only
with the strong backing and support of the political hierarchy. It is also
necessary to get the ‘buy-in’ of all political parties and other vocal groups for
the reform efforts through an appropriate communication strategy. Since it is
convenient to let the reform take a back seat in the face of populist programmes
and policies, it would appear that the necessary magnitude of political
commitment and support for power sector reforms could be won only at the
national level. All these efforts should be consolidated through a national level
political commitment. Ministry of Power should take the initiative in securing
such a commitment and for this purpose the following twin-track approach may
be adopted.
(a) Convene a conference of Chief Ministers and State Power Ministers early
to review the impact of the reform and to take forward the reform process
in the light of this Report, among other things.
(b) A special meeting of States which have not yet restructured their SEBs to
persuade them to restructure their SEBs in compliance with the provisions
of the EA, 2003.
6.1.6 Further, in the MOAs to be signed with the State Governments, the following
may be incorporated:
(a) As soon as the restructuring is completed, the State Governments should
appoint suitable and technically competent officers to hold the post of the
CMD in each of the new companies and give them a fixed tenure of at
least three years in the first instance.
(b) The States should grant full autonomy for the functioning of the new
companies and should enforce the principle of corporate accountability.