Raising power production 21% is our major achievement: Piyush Goyal

What are the three major achievements of your ministry during the first 100 days of the government?

I think the most important transformation has been under the aegis of PM Narendra Modi that the government is functioning as an 'organic entity' especially in three ministries under my governance. Recently, during a meet, the power secretary had proposed that the cess on coal be increased by 100% so that the money can be utilised for renewable energy and we agreed immediately. So this way when the government functions in synchronisation, the policies see implementation at a greater pace. Secondly, instead of resolving individual cases or issues we are focusing on policy driven governance which can ultimately benefit common man, and thirdly, the power generation from coal in June, July and August has risen by 21.6%.

Scarcity of electricity is still a major issue in the country. Uttar Pradesh is the worst affected and situation in Maharashtra too is grim...

Had we not increased the production of coal by 21%, the situation in the country would have been worse. With the advent of Modi government the situation today is far better. In UP, the state government used to purchase the power amounting to 377 mw till May 15, which stopped on May 16. On May 30 due to some technical fault the production came to a halt and that is when the state government felt the heat and resorted to casting aspersions on us. That is when I had to present the facts before the nation, the same day that 377 mw was procured by the government.

The Supreme Court has said that all coal blocks allocated between 1993 and 2010 are illegal, but at the same time the government appointed attorney-general has appealed to the court to give respite to at least 46 coal blocks...

I have clearly specified through the attorney general that we have complete faith in the court's verdict. We have never resorted to such measures. However, when the matter was raised in the court that crores of rupees in investment were held up in these coal blocks, then our attorney general stated that in no way we wish to question the court's verdict, however, we will try to resolve the matter from the perspective of the banks. About 40 blocks are in operation at present with a production count of 37 million tonne and this year it would be 52 million tonne, we had simply brought this to court's notice and in no way tried to influence the court's verdict.