SRINAGAR: Ahead of the crucial elections in J&K, the state’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has started to show off his report card, beginning from power sector. On Monday, while inaugurating Rs. 890 Crore project for reforms in power generation and distribution across Kashmir, the chief minister pledged round the clock power supply in Kashmir by the year 2020. Work toward that goal, the chief minister said, is afoot. He, however, said Kashmiris were enjoyed electricity on cheapest tariff and indicated to roll back the subsidy on power after an elaborate census of Kashmir’s poor, to be conducted by the Power Development Department.
In a bid to portray his five and half years in power as harbinger of power revolution in Kashmir, Omar said only 750 MW projects, including Baglihar-I of 450 MW, were completed in the State in sixty years before he assumed office in 2008. “In just five and half years, we have been able to initiate 1600 MWs capacity hydro electric projects,” Omar said adding that the projects with 2220 MW capacity were ready to be awarded for construction.
The new reform project has been complicatedly named as “Restructured Accelerated Power Development Reforms Programme (R-APDRP)”. It would be executed by the state’s most spending power development department. Omar Abdullah has the department to make public satisfaction first concern in its functioning.
Public satisfaction and Customer Care should be the benchmark of your functioning, he told the functionaries of department as he stressed on strengthening Call Centres and Grievance Redressal Units, recently established at Srinagar and Jammu.
The Chief Minister said that remarkable measures have been undertaken during the last five and half years of his government to address power development both on generation and distribution fronts.
“The power sector has remained political target in the State as such the tremendous work done and improvement registered in the generation and distribution during the last five and the half years has got over shadowed by the propaganda,” An official handout quoted the chief minister as said.
He said his government had enhanced power supply by 46 percent during its tenure so far and “it’s not a joke.” Detailing out his government’s achievements in the power sector, Omar said the quality and the voltage of electricity have been remarkably upgraded while 18500 new transmission lines erected to improve the distribution. He said 2600 MVA transformation capacity has been added by creating new Grid Stations and augmenting existing ones.
The Chief Minister said that there are some 1.50 lakh unregistered consumers getting electricity which is not reflected in the power supply system as such there is high percentage of transformer damages.
He said he has asked the department to register all the unregistered consumers and offer incentives for the performance of grass root workforce including linemen of PDD so that the distribution system is further improved.
Omar Abdullah said some elements had had rumored that this programme will add difficulties to consumers. “But that is all rubbish and propaganda.” He said that people should understand that R-APDRP is in the best interest of consumers to receive better and uninterrupted electricity and get their grievances redressed as early as possible.
It will not only improve the power distribution network but provide online facility to people to acquire their bills, make payments and have their grievances registered and redressed in shortest possible time, he said adding that the system will also improve transparency in the revenue collection.
The chief minister said that he has asked the PDD to work out special programme of power tariff for poorer sections of the society with the Finance Department so that they are further benefited on this count. He said presently the State Government is providing 63 percent subsidy on the supply of electricity to consumers while this subsidy to industry is of the order of 40 to 50 percent. He said Jammu and Kashmir is the first State after Sikkim which provides cheapest electricity to its consumers. He said R-APDRP will not only transform the power distribution conditions and infrastructure in the 30 towns of the State including Jammu and Srinagar Cities but its trickledown effect will also benefit other areas which do not fall under this programme.
Pertinently, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has fixed the target of achieving generation of 9000 MWs of power in the State by 2020 and the PDD claims that a multi-pronged strategy is ready to achieve this ambitious target.
According to the PDD officials the R-APDRP-Part B will help to provide 24×7 electricity to the consumers in the State and reduce to just two percent the damages to the community transformers .
Officials say the transformer damage which was 41 percent before five years earlier has been reduced to 27 percent now. He said under the Part-A of the programme five Grid Stations have been constructed and sixth is under execution.
The Minister said the power supply capacity of the PDD has been increased from 700 MWs to 1200 MWs during the last over five years. He said 220 Transmission Line is being carried to Valley via Mughal Road while another Line has been sanctioned for Ladakh. He said each district is being provided with Rs. 1 Crore to upgrade its distribution network. He said T&D losses have come down from 70 percent to 56 percent in last above five years.
Officials maintain that reduction of outrages, safety of life and property and adequate generation and distribution capacity are other objectives of the programme.
There has been remarkable decrease in the electricity deficit of the state for past five years and it has come down from 69.03 percent in 2007-2008 to 47.54 percent in 2013-14, officials say. Anantnag, Budgam, Bandipora, Baramulla, Bijbehara, Dooru-Verinag, Ganderbal, Handwara, Kargil, Kulgam, Kupwara, Leh, Pattan, Pulwama, Shopian, Sopore, Srinagar, Sumbal and Tral towns are being covered under R-APDRP.
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