The Union Minister of Power and Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Manohar Lal, today launched online portal DRIPS (Disaster Resilient Infrastructure for Power Sector) in New Delhi.
The string of natural disasters across India in the past few years, i.e. Cyclone Fani in Odisha, severe floods in Jammu & Kashmir, extensive flooding in Kerala—has starkly highlighted the vulnerability of our infrastructure, particularly in the power sector. Coastal states/UTs,viz., Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Puducherry face unique challenges due to their geographic location. These catastrophic events have underscored the urgent need for comprehensive disaster preparedness and response strategies. Disaster Resource Inventory for power sector (DRIPS) portal would allow for rapid identification and deployment of necessary resources, ensuring that power sector disruptions are addressed promptly and efficiently in a disaster situation.
Union Minister Shri Manohar Lal at the launch ceremony said “The launch of the online portals DRIPS; will enable transparent, coordinated and effective working of the power sector in the country during any adverse situation”. Union Minister also emphasized that the online system is need of the hour to reduce the human error at the time of exigency. He also highlighted the fact that the portal will be helpful not only for generators and distributors but also for consumers.
DRIPS will serve as a single point of contact for all the designated nodal officers of all the departments of power sector and other agencies in the affected districts, states for managing the inventory of specific Power System equipments and critical supplies a much needed step for an emergency response. CEA was entrusted to develop this inventory in line with IDRN and host it on National Power Portal.
The minister praised CEA team for in house developing the portal , which shall serve as a single Portal for all the three areas of power sector, i.e. Generation, Transmission and Distribution.
For utilizing this portal, the nodal officer would require to undergo the process, i.e, Registration of Entities (GENCOs, TRANSCOs, DISCOMs), verification & approval by CEA and timely updating of spare inventory by entities etc. At present, 61 stakeholders are registered with this portal.
The establishment of a well-organized Disaster Resource Inventory for the power sector is not merely a precaution; it is a necessity to safeguard lives, property, and critical services during and after natural disasters. DRIPS can significantly contribute towards building of a more resilient and effective response system.
The success of this portal also relies on participating utilities timely updating their resource inventory so that at the time of crisis the same can be accessed by all stakeholders to minimize the impact of disaster and restore the system to its original condition in shortest possible time.
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Sushil Kumar