*Over 6 months gone by, new tariff yet to be announced
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 8: In yet another testimony of slack approach towards the priority sector, all the major announcements made by the Government about bringing much-needed improvement in the power sector have remained only on the papers because of delay in meeting procedural formalities. Moreover, the new power tariff has yet not been announced despite the fact that over six months of the current financial year have already been lapsed and huge gap between revenue realization and expenditure in supplying power is still a matter of serious concern.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that while winding up discussion on the grants of the Power Development Department in the Legislative Assembly on June 21, the Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh, who is also Minister Incharge Power Development Department, had announced that Government would provide Rs one crore to each constituency for upgrading the electric infrastructure.
Stating that funds would be released immediately, the Deputy Chief Minister had made it clear that Deputy Commissioners would be the nodal officers and works to be carried out by spending Rs one crore in each constituency would be undertaken on the recommendations of the concerned legislator.
However, till date not even a single penny has been released by the Government and pitiable condition of basic power infrastructure like transmission lines and worn out poles is still mocking at those at the helm of affairs in the Power Development Department, sources said.
In the month of August, the Government had stated that improvement in basic power infrastructure would be started by the middle of September in view of completion of all the required formalities such as allotment of work after opening tenders and purchasing of material besides approval of Detailed Project Report(s). However, the authorities of the Power Development Department have failed to stick to this time-frame for start of work, sources regretted.
“Due to non-release of funds, not only the common masses even the elected representatives of the people are fuming over poor infrastructure in urban as well as rural areas of the State which is the root cause of frequent interruptions in power supply”, sources said, adding “skipping the time-lines for either start or completion of works in priority sector like power has become a routine in Jammu and Kashmir and the fate of announcement regarding providing Rs one crore per constituency is the testimony of the same”.
“In each and every public darbar being conducted by the Ministers of PDP-BJP Coalition Government the people are raising the issue of poor power infrastructure and every time they are extended assurances without any specified time-frame for start of work”, sources said.
When contacted, several Deputy Commissioners, who were made nodal officers, confirmed to EXCELSIOR that announcement has yet not become reality. “We are still awaiting communication from the top echelons of the Power Development Department about sanction and release of funds”, they added.
Similar is the fate of announcement vis-à-vis State Hydel Policy, sources said, adding “there is no significant development with regard to removing impediments to the investments by the Independent Power Producers in small hydel projects”.
The Finance Minister, while presenting Power Budget on May 30, 2016 had announced in the Legislative Assembly that existing State Hydel Policy would be revamped in order to make it more investor-friendly and necessary steps in this regard would be initiated shortly. “For want of revamp the existing policy has failed to woo the investors in exploiting the available potential”, sources regretted.
It is pertinent to mention here that with the objective of attracting private investment in the development of hydropower projects, the State Government had framed the State Hydel Policy in 2003. To make the policy more investor-friendly, new State Hydel Policy was announced in July 2011 replacing the State Hydel Policy 2003. However, the policy is again required to be modified so as to achieve the objective behind its formulation.
In the Power Budget it was also announced that reasonable hike would be affected in the power tariff for various consumer categories without any tariff shock to them. The ground behind this announcement was huge gap between revenue realization and power purchase bills.
However, the new tariff has not been announced till date despite the fact that over six months of current financial year have already lapsed, sources said, adding “earlier there was slackness on the part of Power Development Department and now Jammu and Kashmir State Electricity Regulatory Commission is soft-paddling on the issuance of notification regarding new tariff despite having received all the information from the department”.
“If such a dilly-dallying approach is allowed to prevail in the Power Development Department, the much-needed improvement in infrastructure and power reforms will never become reality”, sources remarked.
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