Government of West Bengal

Department of Power
Bidyut Unnayan Bhawan
Plot 3/C, LA Block, Sector III, Salt Lake City
Kolkata – 700 098

No. 824– POW-31/15/2021-SECTION (POWER) Date : 01/11/2022

CASE FOR DISCUSSION IN THE CABINET

The under mentioned case of the Power Department, of which a spare set of papers
is herewith forwarded, will be for discussion in the next meeting of the Cabinet.

(S. SURESH KUMAR)

Additional Chief Secretary to the
Government of West Bengal
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

MEMORANDUM

Subject: Proposal for sanction of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) for
Strengthening and Grid Modernization Project to develop the Smart Meter,
Loss Reduction and Electricity Grid Modernisation in West Bengal to be
implemented by WBSEDCL as a Central Sector Scheme with the Govt. of India
and State Government financial assistance along with loan assistance of the
Asian Development Bank (ADB) with financial involvement of Rs 12383.044
crore.

1. INTRODUCTION:
1.1. The rapid economic growth in West Bengal has resulted in a growing electricity
demand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.5 percent during the last
five years. The electricity supply has kept pace, resulting in the state’s energy deficit
being within a low margin of 0.3–0.4 percent during the same period.
1.2. While WBSEDCL has extended grid connectivity to almost all consumers across the
state, the large consumer base of low paying and low-consumption households has
put a strain on WBSEDCL finances. The number of consumers served by WBSEDCL
has more than doubled in the last six years under the ‘Sabar Ghare Alo’ to almost
2.07 crore consumers with the main increase coming from rural areas and the state
reaching universal electricity access. WBSEDCL’s consumer mix is characterized by
a high proportion of low paying domestic consumers (around 95 percent of
WBSEDCL’s total consumer base), contributing to only around 39 percent of
WBSEDCL’s total retail sale in million units.

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1.3. WBSEDCL’s priority has now shifted from basic access to providing improved
quality and reliability of electricity supply and ensuring its financial sustainability.
Although the state has adequate power capacity, the intrastate distribution network
will need to be strengthened to ensure that quality power supply is adequately
supplied to the large consumer base, especially in rural Bengal. The doubling of the
consumer base has led to multiple operational and financial challenges mentioned
below that will need to be addressed:
1.3.1. Reducing aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses. Due to wide
distribution spread over a wide geographical area, AT&C losses steadily grew to
reach around 30% in FY15. WBSEDCL has been taking several initiatives to
reduce the losses, and these have come down to around 20% in FY20 but have
again increased to 21.3 percent in FY21 because of COVID-19. Ideally, they
should be in the 10-15% range covering the entire State.
1.3.2. Improving quality and reliability of power. Again due to the geographical
spread, WBSEDCL is facing a challenge in maintaining quality and reliable
supply. The network suffers from frequent outages with the distribution
transformer failure rate varying between 4 & 10 percent. Improvement of the
quality and reliability of supply, by strengthening infrastructure and
incorporating self- healing capability in the network through automation, will be
important for retaining the existing large consumers.
1.3.3. Integrating advanced operation technologies (OTs) and automation of internal
business operations. Globally, the business environment of Discoms is seeing a
paradigm shift with the deployment of new technologies such as electric vehicles
and increase of distributed energy resources such as solar rooftops. WBSEDCL
is has to upgrade its ICT and OT systems to automate network operations to
facilitate integration of renewable energy and handle the growing impact of
increasing number of prosumers, electric vehicles, and other distributed energy
resource applications. Automation will help WBSEDCL to monitor the reliability
of supply, identify and restore network disruptions, and track consumer
complaints efficiently, thus leading to improved customer satisfaction.
1.3.4. Building resilience against extreme climate events. Due to its proximity to the
Bay of Bengal, West Bengal is frequently affected by cyclones and strong winds,
especially in the monsoon season and the frequency of severe cyclonic storms is
increasing noticeably. In May 2020, Super Cyclone ‘Amphan’ caused significant
damage to the electricity infrastructure in West Bengal. Given this context, it is
important for WBSEDCL to consider climate and disaster risks in system
expansion and modernization, through hardening of the network using aerial
bunched cables (ABCs) and underground cabling and communications
capabilities that can withstand the impact of extreme weather events or quickly
recognize and address disruption after the event has passed.

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 1.3.5. Securing financial sustainability. WBSEDCL had generated profits in the past
and its financial performance has deteriorated in the last three years due to high
AT&C losses and lack of regular tariff revisions leading to adverse Aggregate
Cost of Supply (ACS)-Aggregate Revenue Requirement (ARR) gap. To support
the low-paying lifeline consumers, in the State Budget for 2020, the State
Government started providing subsidies for consumers with quarterly
consumption of less than 75 kWh under the ‘Hashir Alo’ scheme.
1.4. Thus, the sub-optimal performance of the distribution sector is due to structural and
management deficiencies and residuary weaknesses in the infrastructure.
WBSEDCL needs to focus on improving its operational efficiencies and financial
sustainability and improve consumer services to be able to meet the desired
consumer service standards. This is a universal phenomenon in the country and
hence large-scale reforms are necessary to reduce losses to make them financially
sustainable and operationally efficient. It was with this reason that the GoI has
proposed a Revamped Reforms Based and Results Linked Distribution Sector
Scheme (RDSS) with a total outlay of Rs 3,03,758 Crore with a grant of Rs 97,631
crore to undertake reforms and improve performance in a time bound manner in
continuation to the earlier schemes mentioned above. The scheme is expected to be
completed by 31/3/2026.
1.5. The objectives of the RDSS Scheme:
i. Improvement in the quality, reliability, and affordability of power supply to
consumers through a financially sustainable and operationally efficient
distribution sector.
ii. Reduction of AT&C losses to pan-India levels of 12-15% by 2024-25.

iii. Reduction of ACS-ARR gap to zero by 2024-25.

1.6 For West Bengal the objectives are to:

i. Reduce Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) losses from the current
21.35% in FY21 to 13.5% by FY25
ii. Reduce Aggregate Cost of Supply (ACS)-Aggregate Revenue Requirement
(ARR) gap from Re1.00 in FY21 to 0 by FY25

2. THE SCHEME:

With a view to meet the above objectives, the scope of the scheme as follows:

Part-A of the Scheme :

(1) Metering:

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 • Prepaid Smart meters for consumers along with associated AMI in TOTEX
through prepaid or smart prepaid mode.

• 100% communicable DT & Feeder Metering with AMI to enable energy

accounting

• Metering of unmetered feeders and making all feeder meters (new and old)
online

• Replacing current non-communicable DT meters with communicable AMI

meters
• Replacement or fresh DT meter installation in TOTEX mode.
(2) Distribution Infrastructure works:

a) Loss reduction:
• Aerial bunched Cables in high loss areas
• HVDS in high loss areas
• New feeders, capacitors, etc. for loss reduction

• Segregation / Bifurcation of feeders and allied works to enable KUSUM

implementation
• Replacement of conductors, which are old/frayed
b) Modernization:
• Renovation & Modernization of existing infrastructure
• Augmentation of Substations
• IT/OT enablement works, SCADA in all urban areas

• DMS in 100 urban centres with population over 2.75 lakhs

• Additional HT lines to improve quality of supply
• Other distribution works for system strengthening

Part-B of the Scheme :

a) Training and Capacity Building
b) Awards and Incentives
c) Communication Plan and Consumer Engagement.
d) Advanced ICT including AI and ML based solutions
e) National Feeder Monitoring System (NFMS)

3. State Project Formulation:

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Based on the RDSS guidelines and in order to finalize Action Plan & DPR in a time bound
manner, WBSEDCL had constituted a committee. RECPDCL & PFCCL were engaged for
this purpose following the provision of scheme guidelines. Engagement of consultants was
done in the following manner:
• PFCCL: Consumer & System metering works.
• RECPDCL: Distribution Infrastructure Works and submission of consolidated
report covering all works
Both the consultants had submitted Action Plan and the DPR. After detailed discussion the
plan has been finalized. The Action Plan contained analysis of as-is condition and proposal
for improvement of different performance parameters which was used to feed into the
requirements of the DPR of the RDSS Scheme. The Board of the WBSEDCL had approved
the Action Plan and DPR prepared on 23/12/2021. The Action Plan was reviewed on
29/03/22 in REC Headquarter and virtually on 12/04/22 by the Secretary Power after which
a revision was suggested. By the letter dated REC/RDSS/WB22-23/179 dated it was
intimated that:
”…the tentative allocation of West Bengal State under RDSS scheme is Rs. 7148 crore for both Loss
reduction and modernization works. Since, DPR prepared by WBSEDCL under loss reduction is of
Rs 7337 crore it was advised that WBSEDCL may recast the loss reduction DPR to around Rs 5,700
crore and balance works may be taken up in modernization DPR.”
A State-level Distribution Reforms Committee (DRC) headed by the Chief Secretary was
duly constituted by order no. 11-PO/O/C-I/5S-09/21 dated 30th November, 2021 for
approving the Action Plan and DPR and obtaining the approval of the State Cabinet after
which it would be submitted to the Monitoring Committee of the Ministry of Power (MoP)
for sanction. The DRC approved the revised allocation on 13/05/22. The RDSS guidelines
at 5.1.6 paragraph permitted the raising of counterpart funding from bilateral/multilateral
funding agencies and the DRC decided to access an ADB loan of USD 500 million to reduce
the financing burden on the State Government on 8/06/22.

4. PROJECT FUNDING FOR THE SCHEME:

a) Metering part of the project will be executed in TOTEX mode. 15% of the Project
cost, considered as CAPEX part will be funded by GOI. There is a capping of Rs.
900/ per meter for Consumer Metering work.
b) For Distribution Infrastructure work, 60% of the Project cost will be funded by GOI.
Balance Part shall have to be arranged by the respective Discoms/ State Govt. In
the first year sanction will be given for the loss reduction part only. Release of fund
for subsequent year and for modernization work is subject to fulfilment of
eligibility criteria and obtaining minimum prescribed score of 60.

Funding criteria for the scheme:

Prepaid/Smart Prepaid meters:

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 i. Fund will be released on successful installation, commissioning and providing of
essential services/data related to it for a period of one month to the DISCOM.
ii. Consumer meter be recharged at least once.

For Distribution Infra works:

i. Advance (for loss reduction work only): 10% advance on approval (5% each on
sanction and award of works)
ii. Yearly fund release for second and subsequent installments based on annual
evaluation (total 3 evaluations) :
• 30% cumulative GBS after 1st evaluation (20% GBS for loss reduction; 10%
advance and additional 20% GBS for modernization works)
• 60% cumulative GBS after 2nd evaluation
• 100% cumulative GBS after 3rdevaluation
iii. The evaluation parameters i.r.o. any Discom in the Result Evaluation Framework for
this scheme is as follows:

Parameter Weightage
Financial Stability 60 marks
Outcomes of Infra works 20 marks
Outcomes of Infra works 10 marks
Policy and Structural Reforms 10 marks
Total 100 marks
Minimum marks =60
.
c) If by the end of FY:2025-26, a DISCOM is not eligible for release of any grant, the initial
advance of 10% of the grant component of the cost of DPR for Loss Reduction will
have to be refunded by the DISCOM.
d) The Monitoring Committee is empowered to recall the grant released to the DISCOMs at
any stage of the scheme, in case the sanctioned works are left incomplete, or the assets
could not be put to use, or funds are utilized for purposes other than those prescribed
in the scheme/as approved by the Monitoring Committee in accordance with the
prescribed guidelines.
e) Apart from the GoI gross budgetary support (GBS), to lessen the burden of the State
Government contribution of 40% it has been proposed to obtain the loan assistance of
the ADB to the extent of USD 500 million. The RDSS scheme guidelines permit the
same at paragraph 5.1.6. Accordingly a Preliminary Project Report (PPR) has also
been prepared.

5. PRE-QUALIFICATION (PQ) CRITERIAL OF THE SCHEME FOR WBSEDCL:

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 Compliance to RDSS PQ

Condition Status

Quarterly un-audited accounts within

60 days of end of each quarter of FY Complied. Q4 in progress.
2022
Audited annual accounts published
Will be complied.
for FY 2022 before December ’22
No new regulatory asset created in
latest tariff order (Tariff order for FY Tariff order not yet issued
2022-23)

100% payment of subsidy for FY 2022 100% subsidy paid.

Payment of State Govt. dept. dues of
FY 2022
No. of days payable for FY 2022 are
equal or less than projected trajectory
in REF
Tariff order issued for FY 2023 before
1st Apr 2022
68% paid. State Govt. has instructed for
release of dues quarterly.
Day payable in FY 2022 is 105 days
(Provisional) which is equal to the Target for
FY 2022.
Issued till FY-22, Petition filed in Aug-20,
Order not yet issued by WBERC

True-up order issued of penultimate
year (FY 2021) before 1st Apr 2022
Progress commensurate to
commitment in putting Govt. Offices
on prepaid meters as per REF
Issued till FY-13, True-up order FY 2020-21 is
not yet passed
Will be ensured as per trajectory.

Additional Conditions for Compliance

Undertakings Status

1 Enabling digital payment of electricity bills Complied

Done under
2 To enable self-assessment by consumers
EoDB
Bills for subsidies are raised by DISCOMs and paid upfront
3 Complied
every quarter/month
Cost-reflective tariff without subsidy to be notified. State
4 Govt. to simultaneously notify category-wise subsidy on per Complied
unit and/ or per KW basis.

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 Undertakings Status

Submit quarterly accounts of subsidy utilization given in

5 advance & balance subsidy available/ to be received from Complies
State Govt. on basis of actual per unit consumption
Can only be
Publish quarterly energy auditing result, starting from quarter
done once DT
6 ending Jun-21 for feeder-wise energy accounting &
metering starts
publication of DT wise energy account
under RDSS
Can only be
done once DT
7 DT level energy accounting as per BEE
metering starts
under RDSS
Adequate provision in State budget for liquidation
8 outstanding electricity bills and timely payment against Complied
current electricity dues of State Govt. Dept./ULB/PRI etc.

9 No new regulatory asset shall be created Complied

10 Timely filing of true-up with regulator Not Complied

State Essential Norms Not Yet Met Completely

a) Tariff Order for FY 2023 not issued before 1st Apr ‘22
11 West Bengal b) Govt. Dept. dues for FY 2022 not cleared
c) Quarterly Unaudited accounts not available

Tariff
True-up
Payment order
Publishing 100% order
No new of State issued
of payment issued of
regulatory Govt. for FY
State Quarterly of penultimate
asset dept. 2023
un-audited subsidy year (FY
created dues of before
accounts for FY 22 2021) before
FY 2022 1st Apr
1st Apr 22
22
West Order Partly Not Not
Complied Complied
Bengal Awaited Complied Complied Complied

6. FINANCIAL IMPLICATION OF THE SCHEME:

YEAR ON YEAR PHASING OF PROJECT COST

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 a) Metering

Targeted Physical Year on year phasing of project Estimated

Sl. interventions Target Cost (INR Cr.) based on Physical Outlay as
No. for Metering targets per DPR
Work FY23 FY24 FY25 (Rs. Cr)
1 Ph Whole
Current Smart
1 Meter - 31,72,886 40.843 386.889 1476.001 1903.732
Consumer
Meter
3 Ph Whole
Current Smart
2 Meter - 8,50,502 109.157 217.892 0.000 327.050
Consumer
Meter
3 Ph LT-CT
Operated
3 3,05,419 69.000 633.464 0.000 702.464
Smart Meter -
DT Meter
Total
(excluding
40,23,388 219.000 1238.245 1476.001 2933.245
PMA Charges)
(INR Cr.)
Total GBS 439.987

PMA Charges @ 2.5% of the GBS 11.000

Total GBS including PMA Fee 450.986

Total Project Cost including PMA Fee 2944.245

b) Loss Reduction Works

Year on year phasing of project Estimated

Targeted interventions for Cost (INR Cr.) based on Physical Outlay as
Sr. No.
loss reduction targets per DPR
FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 (Rs. Cr)
1 Infrastructure work
Segregation of feeders 0 109.018 109.018 146.353 364.390
2 Provision of ABC cables 0 2192.402 2192.050 2284.297 6668.749
Installation of 11KV Capacitor
3 0 4.800 4.800 2.640 12.240
Bank in 33/11 KV Sub-Station
Public Charging Infrastructure
4 0 21.468 26.105 25.761 73.333
for Electric Vehicals (EVs)
Smart MCCB 6000 Nos. 0 16.000 16.000 16.000 48.000

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5 IT/OT enablement works
Procurement for
5a infrastructure of IT/OT 0 47.060 9.500 6.700 63.260
integration
Unified data management
5b system with analytics and 0 15.000 25.000 25.000 65.000
dashboard.
Data centre Upgrade for
6
unified Billing
Data center infrastructure
upgradation(for introduction
6a of monthly billing 0 40.250 25.250 20.000 85.500
system)server storage network
devices
7 DCU/SIM
DCU for Feeder metering/
7a 0 0.500 2.000 2.000 4.500
System metering.
Total (excluding PMA Charges) (INR
0 2446.498 2409.723 2528.752 7384.972
Cr.)
PMA Charges @ 1.5% of the project cost (Loss reduction works) 110.775
Total Project Cost Inc. PMA 7495.747

c) Modernization Works

Year on year phasing of project

Cost (INR Cr.) based on Physical Estimated
Sl. Targeted interventions for system targets Outlay as
No. strengthening per DPR
FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26 (Rs. Cr)

Construction of New 33/11KV Sub-

Station and drawl of associated I/C
1 135.090 300.200 390.260 480.320 1305.870
and O/G lines with 33KV 2nd
Source.
Augmentation of Existing 33/11Kv
2 11.900 17.000 34.000 76.500 139.400
Sub-stations
Renovation and Modernisation of
3 12.169 24.339 48.677 60.846 146.031
existing 33/11KV Sub-Station.
Augmentation of Conductor Size
4 21.225 21.225 21.225 23.673 87.348
11KV
Modernisation of System by
replacing 1-Ph DTR alongwith
5 drawal of required 3-Ph HT lines 7.225 9.775 13.430 19.125 49.555
and conversion of 1-Ph LT by 3-
Phase ABC

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 Year on year phasing of project
Cost (INR Cr.) based on Physical Estimated
Sl. Targeted interventions for system targets Outlay as
No. strengthening per DPR
FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26 (Rs. Cr)

Implementation
6 0.000 15.000 10.000 17.984 42.984
SCADA/DMS/OMS /RT-DAS
Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
7 15.037 15.037 15.037 15.037 60.150
Works
Project Monitoring Application
8 0.000 0.500 0.000 0.000 0.500
Tools
a.ERP Infra (Storage and Server
9 0.000 12.000 6.000 2.000 20.000
upgradation)
b. Upgradation of ERP & ISU to S/4
10 0.000 15.000 10.000 7.000 32.000
HANA Application
Oracle Licenses for set up of DR for
11 CRM application and 0.000 7.000 0.000 0.000 7.000
implementation
12 Upgradation of Video Conferencing 9.500 0.000 0.000 0.000 9.500
Implementation of Security
Operation Centre(SOC) & Security
13 0.000 5.000 3.000 0.000 8.000
Incident and Event Management
Sytem
Upgradation of Training Centres
14 0.000 0.000 3.000 3.000 6.000
with Training facilities
Total Excluding PMA Charges (INR
212.147 442.076 554.629 705.485 1914.337
Cr.)
PMA Charges @ 1.5% of the project cost (Modernization works) 28.71
Total Project Cost Inc. PMA 1943.05

FINANCIAL SUMMARY

(Rs in Crore)

Targeted GBS by Counterpart Counterpart Counterpart Total Cost

Interventions GoI Fund Fund Fund Incl. PMA
Under (State (Loan From (Will be grant (In
RDSS_WB Govt.) ADB.) provided by Rs Crores)
WBSEDCL)
Metering works 450.986 450.986 - 2042.272 2944.245
Incl. PMA
grant(In
Rs Crores)

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 Targeted GBS by Counterpart Counterpart Counterpart Total Cost
Interventions GoI Fund Fund Fund Incl. PMA
Under (State (Loan From (Will be grant (In
RDSS_WB Govt.) ADB.) provided by Rs Crores)
WBSEDCL)
Distribution 3420.000 1036.650 3039.097 0.000 7495.747
Infrastructure
works for Loss
Reduction Incl.
PMA grant
Distribution 868.800 263.350 810.903 0.000 1943.053
Infrastructure
works for
Modernisation
Incl. PMA grant
TOTAL 4739.786 1750.986 3850.000* 2042.272 12383.044
(*1 USD=77 INR)

Estimated Project Cost And Funding Arrangement For RDSS Project Funding
Sr.
Year Amount (In Rs Crores)
No.
1 Phase I_FY2022 (10% of Project Cost) 1238.304
2 Phase II_FY2023 (20% of Project Cost) 2476.609
3 Phase II_FY2024 (30% of Project Cost) 3714.913
4 Phase II_FY2025 (40% of Project Cost) 4953.218
Total 12383.044

7. THE KEY BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT:

The key benefits of the project are given below:
• Reduction in AT&C loss of the project area
• Modernisation of the grid to enable to meet the needs of distributed generation
from renewable energy sources and improving the ability to respond to
requirements of charging of electric vehicles
• Improvement in voltage profile in consumers end
• Improvement in Reliability Index of power supply
• Improvement of the financial position of the WBSEDCL

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8. PREPAREDNESS OF THE WBSEDCL FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECT
WITHIN TIMELINES
Sl. Aspect of Status Expected date
No. preparation

1 Formation of The work will be carried out by completed

Project Distribution Project Division -II &
Management III.
Team within
WBSEDCL

2 Appointment of The work will be awarded to CPSU 31st March’2022

Project consultant firms on nomination
Management basis after approval of MoP/
Agency Nodal agency

3 Unified Data Work is already awarded. The completed

Management unified data management system
system will work as backbone to metering
and IT infrastructure

4 Bid management System Metering work of 3 1 month from the

for Metering districts will be carried out under date of approval of
works SARTHI project. For rest of the DPR.
districts, work will be awarded
through open tendering after
approval of DPR by monitoring
committee.

5 Finalization of Land identification for proposed To be finalized

Land for Sub- substations is under finalization. before approval of
Stations modernization
DPR.

6 Clearances Shall be taken up during tender To be decided as

required for formulation for project execution and when
project execution on the basis of site requirement required.
along with the PMA and shall be a
part of agreement with the turnkey
contractors

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 Sl. Aspect of Status Expected date
No. preparation

7 Project Will be procured through open To be decided

Monitoring Tool tending process after approval of
DPR.

8. Views of the Finance Department

The proposal was referred to Finance Department for due vetting and concurrence.
Finance Department vide their U.O. No. 3431-Gr.N U.O. Date : 28/10/2022 and no. Group
R/2022-23/0190 U.O. 28/10/2022 date have given their in-principle approval on the
proposal with the following observation :-

Views of Group R

Group R eOffice File No. FIN-30012/16/2022-GROUP R SEC-Dept. of FIN

“The project is fundamentally outcome oriented and the terms of GOI speak about conditional
project funding based upon target achievement. The State will have bear around ?1751 crore in
five years and the rest of the funding will be received from GOI and through ADB loans. The state
funding also may be linked to performance on annual basis following the objective of the project
and to stress upon target accomplishment. Under the stated circumstances, we may, subject to
approval of the Cabinet and concurrence of Group N, and further stipulations on the phased
funding that the progress of the work should be reviewed by Power Dept. in a regular interval and
the State Government financial assistance will be released based on the work-progress and fund
utilization and the respective release from GoI, accord “in principle” approval to the proposal of
the Admn dept”

Views of Group N

“We may also have no objection to agree in principle to the proposal of Power Dept. for
implementation of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) to be implemented by
WBSEDCL as a Central Sector Scheme with a total financial involvement of Rs.12383.044 crore
till March,2026 with the following fund sharing pattern:

Govt. of India =Rs. 4739.786 Cr.

State Government financial assistance =Rs. 1750.986 Cr.
WBSEDCL Share =Rs. 2042.272 Cr.

Loan assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) (USD 500 million) = Rs.3850.000 Cr.

Subject to the following terms:

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 Administrative Department may obtain approval from this Department in due course on the details
terms and condition of the EAP part of the project and details of the Central Sector Scheme under
which the project would be implemented. The progress of the work should be reviewed by the
Power Dept. in a regular interval on which the State Government’s financial assistance would be
released based on the progress of work and also utilization of fund and subject to approval of the
State Cabinet.”

PROPOSAL :

Now, the Power Department proposes for approval in the matter of

implementation of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) for
Strengthening and Grid Modernization Project to develop the Smart Meter, Loss
Reduction and Electricity Grid Modernisation in West Bengal to be implemented by
WBSEDCL as a Central Sector Scheme with the Govt. of India and State Government
financial assistance along with loan assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
with a total financial involvement of Rs 12383.044 crore.

9. IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE:
9.1 Necessary Notification in this regard will be issued within one month from the date
of approval by the Cabinet.
9.2 Quarterly progress report on implementation of the project will be sent to the Cabinet
Secretary and Chief Secretary.

10. The matter is now placed before the State Cabinet for consideration and approval of the
proposal at Para 9 above.

***

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