Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 10: Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), J&K Regional Branch organized a lecture cum civil society interaction on “Power Distribution in Jammu, Consumer Satisfaction & the Way Forward” at the IIPA, Jammu.
The lecture was delivered by Managing Director, Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL) G P Singh. A team of technical officers of JPDCL and PDD also participated in the interaction.
Kuldeep Khoda, former DGP & Chief Vigilance Commissioner, J&K and President, the Central Government Pensioners Welfare Association, Jammu, was the chief guest, while B R Sharma, former Chief Secretary, J&K and Chairman, IIPA J&K Regional Branch, presided over the function.
The Managing Director, JPDCL in his detailed presentation, informed that the Jammu region has about 1700 MW peak demand. Increase in demand necessitated 3 to 6 hour power curtailment during peak hours. He also referred to the various challenges such as power theft, illegal hooking, meter bypassing, unauthorized connections, non-payment of bills, which contribute to Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses which impact the honest consumers. He however, said that as a result of various measures initiated in the last four five years, these losses have come down to 26 percent and efforts are afoot to further reduce it to 20 percent even though national average is 12 to 15 percent.
G B Singh referred to the reforms already undertaken under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) for modernization of the distribution network, reduction of AT&C losses and strengthening of power infrastructure.
Speaking on the occasion Kuldeep Khoda highlighted the importance of quality power supply, consumer-friendly services and better coordination among various components of the integrated power system.
In his presidential remarks, B R Sharma stressed that power utilities should become more service-oriented and consumer-centric and underlined the importance of prompt grievance redressal, transparency and technological reforms for improving public confidence in the system.
M M Gupta presented the welcome address while the proceedings were conducted by Prof Anil Gupta.
Prominent office bearers and Executive Committee members of IIPA J&K Regional Branch who attended the lecture included K B Jandial, Vikrant Kuthiala, Dr C M Seth, S D Swatantra, Prem Gupta, C L Banal, S S Bijral, Nisar Ahmed and Vinod Padha.
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