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Power reforms must be speeded up: Prabhu

Union Power Minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday underlined the need to expedite the reform process in the power sector, noting that such a step was inevitable for the overall growth of the country's economy.

Inaugurating a two-day workshop in Hyderabad on 'Power Sector Reforms: Review of Experience', he said the main objective of the reforms was to ensure affordable and quality power to the downtrodden.

''Only 31 per cent of the country's population has access to power. This section keeps on complaining about hike in power tariff following the reforms. They are unmindful of the remaining 69 per cent who live in darkness,'' the minister noted.

Prabhu said 400,000 hamlets and about 20,000 villages still did not have power supply and reforms was the only way through which power generation could be increased with private participation to ensure electricity to all sections.

Prabhu said the reforms may not be easy for the consumers in the beginning, but the changes were inevitable for the long-term interests.

Stating that there was no common model of reforms to be regulated, he said each state should evolve its own model and complimented state governments like Andhra Pradesh for their ''bold decisions'' in this regard.

UNI

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