Complaint box to be placed in every Panchayat
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 3: The Administrative Council in its first meeting today under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu reviewed the power scenario across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
K K Sharma and Farooq Khan, Advisors to the Lieutenant Governor, B V R Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary and Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor attended the meeting.
Commissioner/Secretary, PDD, Hirdesh Kumar made a detailed presentation highlighting the power scenario in Jammu & Kashmir including the status of restoration of power supply post snowfall on 6th & 7th November in Kashmir region.
A detailed account of both unrestricted and restricted power demand in Jammu & Kashmir regions was given in the presentation highlighting therein that against the average yearly restricted demand of 938 MWs in Jammu region, the PDD has provided 819 MWs. Similarly, in Kashmir region, against the restricted demand of 1328 MWs, the department has provided 1140 MWs. It was further informed that the unrestricted demand of Jammu & Kashmir regions is 1024 & 1490 MWs respectively.
The Administrative Council was apprised that following the snowfall, the power supply in the entire Kashmir region was severely affected especially in districts of Bandipora, Baramulla, Kupwara and Shopian. The districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Budgam were also badly hit. The entire load in the Kashmir region on the evening of 7th November, 2019, plummeted to 30 MWs.
The restoration works were initiated on a war footing basis and the power supply was fully restored in districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal, Pulwama, Shopian, Anantnag and Kulgam by 10th of November, 2019. However, due to collapse of transmission line towers of the lines feeding Nihalpul, Amargarh and Magam grids, the power supply to districts of Budgam, Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora was restored by erecting Emergency Restoration Structures (ERS).
The Administrative Council was apprised that after commissioning of 220 KV Zainakote-Aulesteng line, expected by ending February 2020, an additional 320 MVA will be added to the system which will bring the much needed relief in Kashmir region and power curtailment will come down substantially.
The Commissioner/ Secretary, PDD also gave a brief overview of the steps taken for improving quality and reliability of power supply in both the regions. The Administrative Council was apprised that the department has fixed target for achieving 100% metering by installing pre-paid /Smart Meters at Consumer level by March 2021.
During the meeting, the Lieutenant Governor directed that 100% audit of all the transmission line towers at 220 KV and 132 KV level be conducted and corrective measures taken before the start of next winter season to prevent damage to tower structures.
He also directed that all the Government buildings be provided with roof top solar systems, as a part of energy efficiency measure.
Meanwhile, complaint box will be placed in every Panchayat in the UT to enable citizens to register their complaints and grievances with the Government.
These directions were issued by the Lieutenant Governor, while chairing the meeting of the Administrative Council.
The Administrative Council reviewed the functioning of public grievances mechanism in Jammu & Kashmir.
Principal Secretary to Government, Planning, Development & Monitoring and Grievances Department, Rohit Kansal made a detailed presentation explaining the process of registering and handling the grievances and complaints.
The Council was informed that grievances are received through different means including by post and can also be brought to the Lieutenant Governor’s Grievance Cell by the complainant personally. In addition, public outreach darbars are conducted twice a week by the Advisors to the Lieutenant Governor where people have an opportunity to walk in and present their complaints / grievances. The Deputy Commissioners also hold weekly public meetings, often at tehsil and block levels, where they are accompanied by a number of district officers to facilitate speedy and on spot resolution of the grievances.
While reviewing the functioning of the Grievance Cell, the Lieutenant Governor directed that the disposal of grievances and in particular the time taken for disposal should be rigorously monitored. He also directed that the Awaz-e-Awaam portal of Jammu & Kashmir Public Grievance Cell should include a mechanism for registering and monitoring grievances received during public outreach meetings by the Advisors.
The Lieutenant Governor directed that a dashboard be prepared on the portal in order to monitor the disposal of grievances on a real time basis. He also directed that grievances received in ‘Public Durbars’ should also be entered in the Awaz-e-Awam system.
The Administrative Council noted that the Grievance Cell has already received 82613 grievances from different sources, out of which 43420 have been escalated on the e-portal. It was also noted that after the integration of CPGRAMS with Awaz-e-Awaam, the grievances received on CPGRAMS from across the country will automatically get directed to Awaz-e-Awaam and in this way resolution of such grievances will also be expedited.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
