Power Minister may visit Gujarat to study biz model

Newly appointed Minister of State for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said he will study the best practices of the Gujarat Model so as to turnaround the energy sector.

 "I do plan to visit Gujarat along with my team to a take first hand experience of Gujarat turnaround story and meet their ministers. They have been extremely successful in the renewable energy sector also," Goyal said after assuming charge of his office.

He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was able to turn around the energy sector in Gujarat during his tenure as the Chief Minister of the state from all perspectives -consumers, producers as well as in terms of transparency.

Goyal, 49, took charge as the Minister of State (independent charge) of the three ministries -- Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy -- at the Shram Shakti Bhawan, headquarters of the Ministry of Power.

He thanked Modi for reposing confidence in his abilities to deliver.

"Must thank Mr Modi that he thought me fit to be able to handle such a critical portfolio as expanded with the other energy ministries, the responsibility on us gets bigger and we hope we don't let the nation down," he said.

Merger of the three key ministries is expected to help in removing the hurdles in these areas.

"There are a lot of challenges, synergies between various ministries. This has been recognised by this government, in transport, this ministry and several others. It reflects on his (Modi) mind that he wants to debottleneck these sectors," he added.

Goyal has previously been on the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Defence during his stint as Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra.

He is son of senior BJP leader Vedprakash Goyal, who was the shipping minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and National Treasurer of the BJP for over two decades.      

Associated with the BJP since 1984, Goyal has held several positions in the party such as Member, National Executive, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He has also served as the party's secretary in Mumbai and National Campaign In charge for the Lok Sabha elections, 1991.

Goyal is an alumnus of Don Bosco High School, Mumbai and Government Law College, Mumbai and Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, New Delhi.