Bhubaneswar, Jan 16: Today the retired IAS officer, UN Behera took his oath of office and secrecy as the new chairman of Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) by the Governor SC Jamir at the Raj Bhawan here. Addressing the media, Behera said that electricity is is one of the major drivers of development. The per capita electric consumption is treated as a major indicator for development of any country or state. As a chairman, the priority would be the overall development of the electricity sector in Odisha. His main focus would be to create an atmosphere where the power generating companies, power transmission companies, distribution companies would function well. At the same time, he would ensure that the customers get power at the optimum rate so that the burden of power tariff is reduced and overall development of the power sector takes place.
Behera is the 1993 batch IAS officer. He was the Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister. He was to retire from services in July this year. But he opted for voluntary retirement which was accepted by the state government. Based on the recommendations of the Selection Committee members headed by Justice Vinod Prasad of the Orissa High Court, his name was appointed. Along with them, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi and the Chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission Gireesh B Pradhan were also a part of the recommendation team. Accepting the recommendations, Odisha Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik appointed Behera as the Chairman and Souri Kanta Parhi, former Air Vice Marshal, as a member of the OERC on Oct 27, 2016. The post of OERC chairman was lying vacant since Oct 8 last year with the end of tenure of SP Nanda.
Agriculture Production Commissioner Gagan Kumar Dhal, Principal Secretary Home Asit Tripathy, Principal Secretary, Energy, Rajesh Verma, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, GVV Sarma, Principal Secretary to Governor, CJ Venugopal, CMD GRIDCO & OPTCL Hemant Sharma, Secretary, ST & SC Development, secretary, Information & Public Relations, Surendra Kumar, Special Secretary General Administration and Finance, Ashok Kumar Meena and others were present at the oath taking ceremony.
