In order to broad-base and infuse professionalism in the working of Damodar Valley Croporation (DVC), the Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its nod for the introduction of the Damodar Valley Croporation (Amendment) Bill, 2011, in Parliament. The Bill seeks reconstitution of the corporation with four full-time members, namely chairman, member (technical), member (finance) and member secretary, and six part-time members.
According to the Cabinet?s decision, now the chairman will be the CEO of the corporation while the posts of financial adviser and secretary have been abolished. ? A Bill to this effect will be introduced in the ensuing session of Parliament,? said an official statement.
The proposed amendment will broad-base and professionalise DVC by bringing in outside professional independent experts to discharge its responsibilities more effectively and efficiently, allocate resources optimally and augment and generate large resources in order to take up new projects and to become a major power producer in the country, besides undertaking its mandatory functions such as flood control, irrigation and water supply, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) also approved the enhancement of cavern capacity, manner of utilisation and revised cost estimates of the strategic crude oil storage cavern at Visakhapatnam. The CCEA also approved enhancement of the cavern capacity at Visakhapatnam from 1.0 million metric tonne (MMT) to 1.33 MMT, sharing of 0.30 MMT additional capacity by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) on proportional cost-sharing basis and the revision of cost estimates from R671.83 crore for 1.0 MMT to R1,038 crore for 1.33 MMT.
The enhanced storage capacity at Visakhapatnam will enable larger strategic storage of crude oil at a lower cost due to cost-sharing, while providing operational flexibility and cost savings to HPCL.