‘Pay bills, help in reforms’
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 23: The turnaround in the power transmission and distribution sector during the last one year in Jammu & Kashmir has helped in achieving reliable, quality, and sustainable electricity supply. Power sector of the UT has not seen any development since last three decades and further strengthening of infrastructure will help the Government’s aim of providing uninterrupted supply to households even in the rural areas, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said, while dedicating seven different power infrastructure projects worth Rs 10.11 crore to the public including new receiving station and power augmentation in Kashmir Division.
The new projects inaugurated by the Lt Governor target 4 districts including Pulwama, Bandipora, Ganderbal and Budgam and would benefit 30,400 households.
Construction of the new receiving station at Pulwama under the languishing project will provide reliable power supply to 3350 households.
“Hardly any work was done in the last three decades to strengthen the power infrastructure in the J&K UT. We have inherited a plethora of problems confronting the power generation, transmission, and distribution sectors. But, we are determined for a time-bound solution to the problems. Rs. 5000 crore has been allocated to transform the power infrastructure and I am certain with a pragmatic approach, we will be able to mitigate the challenges of this sector,” Sinha said.
Three receiving stations of Bandipora districts have been added with substantial MVA capacity for the benefit of the people. Augmentation of the existing receiving station at Shadipora, Bandipora with an additional 3.7 MVA capacity will benefit 5000 households. Similarly, the addition of 2.3 MVA capacity at Ajas is going to benefit 2900 households and Markundal with additional capacity augmentation of 7.4 MVA will benefit 5,700 households in the districts. In total, the capacity augmentation in Bandipora will benefit 13,600 households.
“The Government is incurring huge losses in the power sector because people are not paying their bills. No Government can provide reliable power unless citizens decide to pay. It is my humble appeal to the people to pay power bills. It is in the interest of UT,” the Lt Governor said.
He advised the Power Department functionaries to incorporate public opinion in the planning and execution of the initiatives aimed at increasing revenue realization.
Reiterating the directions passed in previous meetings, Sinha directed the Power Department to complete the work on Unique Identification numbers for Transformers on priority.
The other power projects inaugurated today include augmentation of existing Receiving Station Kurhama from 2×6.3 to 2×10 MVA, Ganderbal; Augmentation of existing Receiving Station Nagam from 4+6.3 to 10+6.3 MVA, Budgam and Augmentation of existing Receiving Station Wadwan from 2×6.3 to 2×10 MV, Budgam benefiting 6750, 2600 and 4100 households respectively.
Seven new power infrastructure projects have been executed under Languishing and PMDP-Rural schemes by Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL).
Baseer Ahmed Khan, Advisor to Lt Governor; Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Power Development Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor; Dr Basharat Qayoom, Managing Director, KPDCL and concerned Chief Engineers attended the inaugural ceremony at Raj Bhavan.
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