The power ministry has set up an advisory committee ?comprising head honchos of key public and private sector power companies, chiefs of leading banks as well as industry experts, heads of industry associations and non-government organizations ? to discuss issues relating to the sector and suggest reforms.
The panel, which is headed by power minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, will hold its first meeting on February 18.
The heads of private power companies included on the panel are Cyrus Mistry (Tata Power), Anil Ambani ( Reliance Power), Sudhir Mehta ( Torrent Power), Manoj Gaur ( Jaypee Group) and Baba N Kalyani ( Bharat Forge). RN Nayak of Powergrid, BP Prasada Rao of Bhel and SK Soonee, Posoco have also been given representation on the committee.
Representing the banking sector on the panel are Pratip Chowdhury ( State Bank of India) and Chanda Kochhar ( ICICI Bank).
“We welcome the initiative of MoP. We hope that the deliberations in the group will lead to resolution of many issues, including the problem of fuel shortage which has threatened the viability of the sector,” said Ashok Khurana, director-general, Association of Power Producers said.
Other members of the panel include RK Pachauri ( The Energy and Resource Institute), Vinayak Chatterjee ( Feedback Ventures) and Vivek Pandit ( Mckiney and Co).
RV Shahi and Vishwanath Anand ( former secretaries to the ministries of power and environment) and PK Sengupta ( Ex-chairman of Coal India).
Trade bodies like Association of Power Producers ( APP) and Independent Power Producers Association ( APPAI) have also found place on the committee.