Manohar Lal Khattar Takes Charge Of Ministry Of Power

Manohar Lal Takes Charge Of Ministry Of Power

Newly-inducted Union Cabinet Minister Manohar Lal today took charge as the Union Minister for Power. This is in addition to his existing portfolio of Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs. He took charge of the ministry at Shram Shakti Bhawan today. Secretary, Ministry of Power, Pankaj Agarwal, along with the senior officials of ministry welcomed the Minister.

This comes at a time when former Union Minister Raj Kumar Singh had to vacate this position after his recent defeat in the recent Generation Elections. Singh, a former bureaucrat had fought the elections from Ara Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar.

The former Minister of Power, Raj Kumar Singh, extended a warm welcome to his successor. The Minister of State in the Ministry of Power, Shripad Yesso Naik was also present at the occasion.

The Union Minister was briefed by senior officials of the Minister of Power and after taking the charge, he also took a review meeting regarding the power supply position in the country.

Challenges for the new minister 

The minister is now all set to take care of the different aspects of the power affairs in the country. This comes at a time when the power demand and peak demand in the country is on the rise. Another challenge for the minister will be to boost the growth of renewable energy in the country to meet the country’s ambition of adding 500 GW of total clean power from non-fossil fuel energy and prepare the country to go net-zero by 2070.

Think-tanks like Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) have already come up with the recommendations on what the ministry should look at for the first 100 days after the formation of the country. This included waiver of ISTS charges for longer periods and clearing many other bottlenecks.

The Ministry of Power in the last five year brought several reforms to boost the growth of clean energy in the country, reduce carbon emissions and ensuring energy security. The new minister is now loaded with the new expectations and the inherent challenges of the power sector.