228 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
whole of India in the period immediately succeeding the cessation of hostilities in such clear cut manner. The Conference asked the Government of India to take appropriate action on the several recommendation made by them. The two recommendations in regard to which action lay with the Government have been already put into effect. They relate to the securing of equipment and the establishment of the Technical Power Board.
A schedule of heavy power equipment required by India as soon as possible after the cessation of hostilities has been prepared and steps have been taken to reserve for India the necessary manufacturing capacity. The total capacity reserved come to over 850 megawatts, at an estimated cost of Rs. 50 crores approximately. The aggregate of new capacity represented by these schedules comes to nearly 65 per cent of India’s existing installed capacity. A more detailed inquiry might show that our requirements for equipment are larger than what has been booked for. But as it was impossible to delay the matter without putting India’s interest in grave jeopardy, we had to take action immediately on such data as could be collected within the limited time that was available to us.
Technical Power Board
As you must have noticed from the Press Note issued on November 8, 1944, the Government of India has constituted a Technical Power Board. Besides the Chairman, the Board will initially have two full-time members and three part-time members. The Government of India has appointed Mr. Mathews, Electrical Commissioner with the Government of India, as the Chairman and has obtained the services of Mr. W. L. Voorduin from the United Stales of America as another member of the Board. Before he came to India, Mr. Voorduin was employed as a Project Officer of the Tennessee Valley Authority. It is proposed to have a third member to be called the Utilisation Member. Effort is being made to recruit a suitable Engineer who is conversant with Utilisation. These appointments of high level experts will assure you how very anxious the Government of India is to make the Board a strong technical organisation designed to collect ideas, conduct surveys and prepare schemes for the electrical development in consultation with Provincial and State Governments. I have referred