Union Minister Piyush Goyal, speaking at an interaction with industry and trade representatives in Coimbatore, recalled an incident from the day he took charge as India’s power minister in 2014.
He said that on his first day in office, large parts of Delhi and several northern states faced a severe power disruption. After a long day, he went to sleep, but his wife questioned how he could rest while people were suffering without electricity, and urged him to go and oversee restoration work.
Goyal said the episode reflected what he described as the Narendra Modi government’s approach—acting proactively, planning in advance and finding innovative solutions to problems. He also referred to a period when the northern power grid had become non-functional, and said the Prime Minister suggested integrating separate grids.
According to him, within about three and a half years, around Rs 2 lakh crore was spent to connect the system into a single grid, strengthening the country’s power distribution network. He claimed this has helped ensure round-the-clock supply and reduced the incidence of power cuts in many states.
During the Coimbatore meeting, he also praised the city’s role as a fast-growing urban and entrepreneurial hub, citing the presence of a large number of micro and small enterprises, and said the government looks to industry for inputs on policy decisions.
