Mr Basu took over the reins of the power ministry as secretary about six months back. Before this, he held charge as secretary, ministry of steel. He has also held various posts in other ministries such as home affairs, the Planning Commission and other infrastructure and economic ministries.

Excerpts from the interview:

Even after three days, the authorities are not clear as to what led to Tuesday's grid collapse in the northern region. What do you have to say on this? Has the government made any arrangements to prevent re-occurrence of such an incident?
It is correct that we are still not sure as to what exactly led to the collapse of the northern grid on Tuesday morning (January 2). The exact information will be disclosed only after the inquiry committee submits its report.

As you know, we have the regional load dispatch centres (RLDCs) in every state who monitor generation levels vis-a-vis demand on a day-to-day basis. Even on the day when the grid failure occurred, instructions were issued to the generating stations to back down generation. Now the question is whether their orders were followed or not. The inquiry committee set up by the government will disclose this in its report.

If grid discipline is to be maintained, then instructions issued by the load dispatch centres have to be obeyed. The same is also provided under the law. Still, if the instructions are not followed, what action should be taken is what we are currently working out.

Tuesday's grid collapse shows two things-one that grid discipline is absent, and two, the huge amount of investment that is lacking and is essentially required for improving the transmission systems, capacitors, condensers, relays etc.

The systems are ageing, the state electricity boards (SEBs) have no funds for investments and whatever investments are being made is by the central sector. So this throws up an important message-that there is a clear urgency for reforms.

The power minister has already made it clear that the government will take strict action against those responsible for disobeying the orders. We are awaiting the report of the inquiry committee following which suitable action will be taken.

To prevent re-occurrence of the disaster, the chairman of the Northern Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) has called a meeting of all the RLDC heads concerned to work out a contingency plan.

Why did restoration of power take so long? Why did the start-up power from the Bhakra hydel power station fail to restore the grid?
Only hydro power stations can provide start-up power for restoration. The Bhakra Beas Management Board's (BBMB's) power also could not reach as there was some blockage at Panipat. This took some time and thus the delay.

One view is that problems at the Rihand-Dadri HVDC bipole could also have led to this collapse?
The 1,500 mw HVDC Rihand-Dadri bipole, at present, is on a single pole due to failure of the transformer converters. The single pole which, under normal circumstances carries 750 mw, is currently carrying 1,400 mw.

If other lines are running fine then HVDC by itself will not cause any problems. But if the other systems fail, as had happened on Tuesday, then HVDC by itself cannot sustain the load. So definitely this needs to be rectified at the earliest. I have asked the authorities concerned to look into the matter.

One view is that if we have the correct hydel-thermal mix, then such situations (grid collapse) will not occur. Is the government considering laying special emphasis on hydel power generation?
Tuesday's incident showed us the dangers of not having enough hydro power generation. Today, out of the country's total generation, the ratio of hydro to thermal is 25:75. We have 25 per cent hydro and 75 per cent thermal. The potential, however, is 1,50,000 mw more than what it is today. But even maintaining this 25:75 hydro-thermal balance requires at least another 25 per cent in the next 10 years, when we plan to add 100,000 mw capacity by 2010.

For this, we will need lot of financial support from the Planning Commission and the Union government. This is so because central government agencies, which are promoting hydro power generation, are putting up these projects at 70 per cent loan and 30 per cent equity support from the government. To provide adequate funds to these agencies we have asked the Planning Commission to increase support for hydel sector development. We have the hydro projects in place and we have decided to extend full financial support to them.

Coming to other issues in the sector, private sector investment is not coming in the way it was anticipated. What is the government's strategy towards private sector investment in power?
One thing that has become clear is that the private sector has to enter the power sector in a big way. More so, when we are talking of 100,000 mw capacity addition and an investment of Rs 800,000 crore. The government on its own cannot make such investments. Private sector entry is a must.

Even the states, which were earlier saying that privatisation is bad, will have to now fall in line if they are to survive. Second, every state has its own requirement of power and they have been informing us about power shortages in their respective regions. Now, if they require this power they cannot go on demanding only from the central grid. If a particular state needs power, its state electricity board (SEB) also needs to perform. After that, whatever the shortfall, it can be met by the Centre. But depending solely on the Centre for meeting their entire power demand is not correct. So, even the states will have to encourage private sector investment to avoid such shortfalls.

We have told the states that the Centre is willing to sign MoUs with each of them. We have already signed MoUs with four-five states, which have a time-bound programme of reforms including things like un-bundling, metering, tariff rationalisation etc. While doing so, the Centre will also extend all possible help for these reforms through agencies like the Power Finance Corporation (PFC).

Another point that we have been making for quite some time is that some states are giving subsidies to SEBs. Our suggestion to them has been that if you want to give subsidies, give it upfront. Don't adjust it against earlier loans. Because if this is done then the SEB remains where it is. This does not help.

How far has the crisis resolution group (CRG) succeeded in speeding up private sector projects?
The CRG has identified about 20 private and state sector projects to be financially closed by end of March 2001. We had a target of about 2,800 mw of projects to be closed by December 31, 2000. These capacity targets will be met by January 15, 2001. So, as of now, we are meeting our targets.

The Centre is looking into procedural matters which may have caused delays in the implementation of these projects. We are monitoring most of these issues and are resolving them for speedy financial closure.