Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Mar 14: The people of State may face much power crisis in coming days as all the private firms repairing damaged electric transformers for the Power Development Department (PDD) have gone on indefinite strike after the State Government failed to clear their liability of over Rs 35 cores.
While 15 electric transformers manufacturing and repair units exist in Kashmir region, about 17 such units exit in Jammu region. They mostly are in Jammu, Samba and Kathua. The PDD authorities have yet to clear the pending dues to the tune of Rs 20 crores of the unit holders from Kashmir region and nearly Rs 15 crores of the unit owners from Jammu province.
Mohd Ashraf, president Jammu and Kashmir Transformers Manufacturers and Repairs Association, claimed that following cold response from Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh (Minister incharge PDD) and Principal Secretary PDD, Sandeep Naik, they have been forced to stop working for PDD and repair transformers. Ashraf said the strike will be indefinite and it will be in the entire State. He said that this decision was taken after consultations with their counterparts in Jammu region.
Mr Ashraf said during last summers and even after September floods, the private unit holders on the request of the concerned Chief Engineers and shouldering responsibility during crisis period, worked round the clock and repaired the damaged PDD infrastructure (transformers) on humanitarian grounds but thereafter, the top PDD officers were not paying any heed towards the plight of the unit holders, who have taken loans from banks to run their show and now receiving notices from the banks for clearing loans.
With this attitude of the Government, majority of the firms expressing anguish, have refused to continue repair work of transformers and the general public is sure to suffer badly during coming summer months. The pendency of transformers under repair is also increasing and there is every possibility of rise in the public protests across the State due to grim power scenario.
Sources in PDD said that during last year, the liability was worth Rs 13 crore and State released Rs 3 crore for Jammu and the same amount for the unit holders from Kashmir. Since, then no payment was made. The PDD is unable to take the load of repair work especially during peak summer months. Even at present about 900 damaged transformers are lying in the units in Kashmir and around 300 in Jammu region. The PDD’s own workshops are unable to take this load and their capacity is just to perform about 30-35 % work. Mainly the Department is dependent on private firms.
Vivek Mehta, provincial president of JKTMR Association said that over seventy percent repair work of the damaged transformers of PDD was being performed by over 32 odd private firms located at Gangyal, Bari Brahmana, Kathua, Samba, Pampore, Anantnag and other parts of Kashmir. The department had to pay nearly Rs 10 cr as arrears on account of repair/ replacement of damaged power transformers to the private firms engaged for the work as on March 31, 2013.
This amount turned around Rs 13 crore in 2014 and presently the arrears have reached Rs 15 crores. He regretted the response of the Minister incharge and said that even Sandeep Naik did not allow the Association deputation to enter his office. Only single member thus went to represent the case.
Mr Mehta said unit holders are unable to pay the wages of the factory workers. Their accounts have turned NPA and they are receiving notices from the banks. They have exhausted their loan limits and they are unable to survive. The Government has turned them all bankrupt, he added.
BP Bhalla, another senior member of the Association of the Transformers unit holders said they met PDD Minister (DyCM), Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu and Principal secretary Power but there was no encouraging response from them. He said the things became worse in last 4 years, after the coming of new Chief Engineer PDD (M&RE) Jammu.
“They consume funds meant for repairs in their (PDD) own workshops and Central workshop while the private unit holders are left high and dry. Their own transformers many times burst immediately after installation with repairs and there is no accountability while they take one year guarantee from private firms. In case of any fault, we repair the same without charging any money while those repaired in Govt workshops are always found faulty with no accountability,” he added.
Mr Bhalla said transformers repaired in PDD workshops, mostly get damaged even within week, a fortnight or even a month. In some cases, they get damaged immediately after installation. The department needed to set its own house right at first. Some insiders are basically responsible for this mess and non-payment of pending dues of the firms, he maintained.
There are three workshops of PDD in Jammu besides another one Central workshop at Narwal. In Kashmir also, there are three including a Central workshop at Pampore. In many workshops, double shift work is being performed to meet the challenge but even then the pendency of repair/ replacement of damaged transformers has increased due to recent rains.
Development Commissioner Power Asgar Ali when contacted said that amount of arrears needs to be checked up from the concerned Chief Engineers (M&RE) Kashmir and Jammu. He said the amount should not be so high.
“We made some payment of Rs 6 crore last year moreover, for the last one year we are repairing transformers mostly in own workshops. During snowfall and floods the services of private firms are taken on large scale. There must be some pending arrears but financial crunch in the State for the last 4-5 months was also one of the reasons for delay in payments. The issue will be taken up with other senior officials and Finance department,” the DCP maintained.
Another senior officer in of the PDD disclosed that medium transformers needs at least Rs 75,000 to Rs 80,000 for repair work. Some times the extra transformers kept in the pool for replacement get consumed and long pendency creates problem. The delay in receiving funds is yet another cause because for repair work you need immediate money. The private firms are engaged to ease the pressure but now they are also facing financial crisis and not getting payments and they have stopped working for PDD.
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