Bhubaneswar: The Odisha chief minister,Naveen Patnaik, Thursday said that electricity consumption in the state has been projected to be 30,000 million units(MUs) by 2022. The state-owned utility Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd.(OPTCL) has proposed to expand the grid network with 57 new grids in the state by then to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the consumers, he added.
Patnaik said that the OPTCL has received union power ministry’s awards for achieving transmission availability of 99.96%, which is highest in the country. Taking into consideration its excellency in performance, the state government has entrusted many state-funded projects to OPTCL as nodal agency, he added.
The chief minister was speaking at a function organised by OPTCL here to hand over appointment letters to 150 junior technicians. Presenting the appointment letters to the new recruits of the state utility, Patnaik said that during the last seven years OPTCL has already recruited 1581 professionals in the organisation.
Odisha minister for energy and steel & mines Prafulla Mallik, and energy secretary Hemanta Sharma also spoke on the occasion.
