Improvement and modernization of power supply in the State has been a serious matter towards which successive Governments have been paying attention. Usually people ask why the State has such a shortfall in power supply when we have sufficient water resources to generate hydroelectric power. This may be the thinking but the fact is just to have water flowing down the rivers does not mean we have abundant electric power. Much more is needed to make the use of the water and that is called infrastructure. To build infrastructure, we need funds, skill, labour, material, site, transmission and so many other things. The Union Power Ministry is fully aware that like some more States in the country, J&K needs to improve its power position especially in the rural areas where access is restricted owing to geographical and weather conditions. The J&K Government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Union Ministry of Power on March 15, 2016 under Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) Scheme for operational and financial turnaround of the State’s Power Development Department. Under the scheme the PDD has committed to achieve 11 operational milestones within the timelines fixed by the Ministry of Power.
However, of the 11 operational milestones, the first milestone which is of installing 100 per cent feeder metering by June 30, 2016 has not been met so far. It should have been completed five months earlier and more especially in the rural areas of the State. Feeder metering has been considered to ensure effective power supply maintenance and focus reduction of Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses. Another discrepancy which we have found in the implementation of reforms in power supply is that the PDD has not ensured compliance to the directives of State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) on furnishing action plan for implementation/ achievement of operational milestones agreed to by it in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Government of India. This raises doubts whether the PDD is capable of meeting all the milestones it has agreed to in the MoU with the Union Ministry of Power. Additionally, PDD has not shown compliance to the directives of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission on furnishing detailed action plan for implementation/ achievement of operational milestones agreed to by the department under UDAY Scheme. In these circumstances, we would like to remind the PDD that it has to honour the commitments made to the SERC and the Union Ministry of Power. It has to prove its efficiency and competence in dealing with the power issue in the State.
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