Jammu: – Flagging energy as a key sector in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today called for a comprehensive roadmap for augmenting the States power scenario by strengthening the generation and distribution network.
Speaking at a meeting convened this morning to take first hand appraisal of the power and water supply position in Jammu region, in view of the sweltering heat wave conditions prevailing here, the Chief Minister asked the Power Development Department (PDD) to avoid unscheduled power cuts especially during the peak hours so that people are not put to any inconvenience. She said the consumers should be informed in advance about the power curtailment schedule, if any to be implemented, during any exigencies.
Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Choudhary was also present in the meeting.
The Chief Minister also stressed on better synergy between PDD and PHE Department to avoid system breakdown which often leads to disruption of water supply in and around the city. She asked PDD to install additional capacitors and transformers where-ever required to avoid system breakdown. She called for removal of the illegal power connections, if any, from the dedicated PHE feeders which is one of the major causes for system breakdown due to overload. She also sought cooperation of the people in this regard.
The Chief Minister called for expediting works under R-APDRP (Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme) to augment the power supply position in the State.
The Chief Minister asked the executing agency IRCON to carry out works in double-shift to ensure completion of the project ahead of the schedule time-frame of March 2017. RAPDRP has already missed the deadline and the thrust should be on completing the project ahead of the fresh deadline of March 2017, she maintained.
Mehbooba said implementation of RAPDRP will go a long way in improving the power supply position in the State, where the consumers are put to immense inconvenience because of distress cuts and low voltage. While the people are facing lot of inconvenience due to power outages during sweltering summer heat in Jammu region, those in Kashmir are facing similar hardships during harsh winters, she said and added that implementation of RAPDRP would to a great extent streamline the power distribution mechanism in the State.
Asking PDD to devise a strategy to reduce power losses and to check pilferage of electricity, Mehbooba said the scheduled power cuts should be in accordance with the working hours fixed for carrying out RAPDRP works by IRCON, which should be consumer-friendly.
She said the government is working hard to increase the power generation sources and work on various new power projects is being carried out in this regard to improve supply.
Earlier, while apprising the meeting about the present power scenario in Jammu region, Principal Secretary PDD, Mr Dheeraj Gupta said during the current year the power supply has increased by 15% and various system constraints have been taken care of to improve supply position. He said the sub-stations at Manda, Canal Road and Subhash Nagar will be commissioned soon which would considerably augment the power scenario in Jammu. He said the issue of transformer repair has been resolved to a great extent with significant reduction in replacement time.
While presenting an overview of the water supply scenario in Jammu city, Commissioner Secretary PHE, Mr Sanjeev Varma informed the meeting that against the total requirement of 47.5MGD for Jammu city, the PHE department is supplying 45.5MGD. He said in order to meet the shortfall of 2.00 MGD, 19 tube-wells are under execution by ERA which on completion by December 2016 would substantially augment the water supply in the city.
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