Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 31: The Government today claimed that all the villages in district Poonch have been electrified and not even a single habilitation has remained uncovered.
While replying to a question of PDP Member Yashpal Sharma in the Upper House of the Legislature today, the Minister of State for Public Works and Revenue, Sunil Kumar Sharma while responding on behalf of Power Minister today said that there is no un-electrified village in district Poonch as all 179 villages are electrified.
The Minister further disclosed that it has been proposed under recently launched Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) and Din Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Joyti Yojana (DDUGJY) scheme that, all the un-electrified villages in the State would be covered by 2018-19.
While replying to another question of Yashpaul Sharma, the Minister said that the Department has taken many steps to improve the infrastructure to provide reliable power supply in all the districts of the State. He said, System Improvement Scheme, R-APDRP has been launched in 11 towns of Jammu province each having a population of more than 10,000 as per 2001 Census , under which the lines/stations are being upgraded not only to ensure quality power supply but also to bring down AT&C losses to less than 15% adding that, Poonch town is also covered under this programme at a cost of Rs 7.74 crore. He claimed that curtailment free power is provided in the metered areas.
The Minister said, in order to overcome unscheduled curtailment and check excessive use of power, the department has done metering of consumers. The new schemes like Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and DDUGJY have been taken up in rural areas, where as accelerated power APDRP and IPDS schemes have been taken in urban areas for improvement in distribution network. These schemes which are at various stages of implementation shall resolve issues like constraints in 33/11 KV lines/receiving stations and distribution transformers.
While responding to another query the Minister said that permanent restoration of 132 KV Draba-Chandak transmission line which was damaged during the flood of September 2014 would be taken up very soon.
Minister for CA&PD Ch Zulfkar Ali while intervening, assured the House that all issues related to the power sector would be taken up with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister so that it is redressed with in shortest possible time. Vibodh Gupta, Surinder Choudhary and Firdous Tak raised supplementaries.
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