No wonder that J&K State Power Development Corporation has once again failed in discharging its duty of speeding up tapping of available potential for construction of hydroelectric projects in the State. We have reflected on many defaults of this organization in various aspects in these columns only to remind the authorities that they are far behind the expectations of the people in regard to production and distribution of power in the State. All the time the political leaders and Government authorities drill into our ears the rhetoric that J&K has enormous potential for production of power. We have often said that this assertion makes no sense unless the mechanism and the planning are there to harness the potential. For harnessing two components play crucial role, highly efficient technical know-how and regular funding. While funding has not been the major problem, the real problem is criminal irresponsibility of those who are at the helm of affairs. Sloth and slackness on the part of execution authorities is the real bane if our failure in providing electricity to all parts of the State especially the far off rural areas. Even as far as urban areas are concerned, there is frequent tripping and shut downs, there is huge fluctuation in power and there is unstable voltage which damages many household electric and electronic gadgets.
It is clear to all that delay of four or five years in starting the project of this magnitude means enormous escalation in the cost of construction. Absence of accountability is another factor that encourages the JKPDC to take things leisurely and without any sense of urgency. It is obvious that the authorities at the top of JKPDC will bring forth one or the other pretext to rationalize its dilly-dallying policy to convince higher authorities and to save its skin. This naturally calls for a system within the power structure to maintain regular supervision and monitoring of the progress in the work of a project given in the assignment of the Power Corporation. The existing system of entrusting a project to a Government agency and giving it the time schedule leave everything to the discretion of the agency and then the government comes back at the end of the time schedule to know what the progress is. Why does not Government maintain regular monitoring of the project on monthly basis? There is the need of creating a monitoring body which will be asked to submit monthly report about the progress of all mega projects and the state cabinet should be briefed regularly on the progress. It is not good governance to leave the project to the sweet will of the executing agency and believe it will not need monitoring. If the State is to be made self-sufficient in power production some drastic steps and reforms will have to be implemented.
The project under discussion is Kirthai Power Project, located in Kishtwar which is a very backward area of the State. Undertaking the project in this backward area would be a big step towards changing the economy of entire region. No other project will be as effective in removing poverty and backwardness of this region as the contemplated project in two phases. It is an irony that the importance of the project is not understood by JKPDC and it is become a prisoner of files and papers. Statistics reveal the magnitude of the project which shows that Stage-I has been worked out at Rs 3126.59 crore. Total land requirement for Kirthai Stage-II is 416.25 hectares, out of which 227.25 hectare is forest land, 149 hectare is private land and 40 hectare is Government land. Total submergence is 331 hectares, out of which 155 hectares is forest land. The estimated cost of Stage-II is Rs 6087.48 crore. We have given the statistics only to strengthen our inference that when completed this project will be a game changer for the erstwhile Doda region.
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