This summer has been notably harsh for the entire region of Jammu owing to very frequent power cuts. Despite tall claims by the Government, there is not much improvement in power supply position in the State. Indirectly the PDD means to say that it can do nothing more than what it is doing and the people have to remain content with their lot. There was a time when PDD argued that the main reason why there is shortfall in power revenue is that power is being pilfered and the remedy lies in installing meters that would control pilferage. The Government started the campaign of installing power meters. Crores of rupees were spent on that scheme and many parts of the winter capital were finally metered. The PDD said that only non-metered parts would be subjected to power cuts. This proved a hoax and today both metered as well as non-metered areas of the city are subjected to regular power cuts.
There are other reasons why power position is not improving in the State and one of these is utter irresponsibility of the officialdom in the department at various levels. A case of stark irresponsibility has come to the notice of the public. It pertains to the Power Grid Station in Janipur. This Grid Station supplies power to six sub stations in the city which cater to the needs of almost all important segments of the city. There are only two transformers of 50 MV capacity at the Grid Station which remain overloaded owing to great demand for power. In order to keep the two transformers running, these have to be shut down intermittently with the result that there is frequent load shedding.
Long back it was felt that the remedy lay in adding one more transformer to the existing two of them and the space for the same was available. Even a blue print for the third transformer installation was also prepared and submitted to the authorities at the PDD. But it is nearly three years that the plan is collecting dust somewhere in the office records and it has never been brought out for implementation. Nobody in the echelons of the Power Department cared to ask what had happened to the file and the plan. This speaks of total irresponsibility of the officials concerned. The fact is that the functioning of PDD will not improve unless a high powered committee is constituted to study the entire gamut of power production, transmission and distribution system existing in the State, We know that there is dire need of producing more power and that means creating new generating units. It all boils down to availability of funds. The question is this: Are we properly transmitting and distributing the quantum of power that we are producing at present. This is the crucial question and the committee that we suggest has to be of experts inside and outside the State who can make proper assessment and they convey to the State Government what it should do to improve the situation. The question of funds comes only when the entire plan is ready. We think that time has come when such a committee should be formed and the chronic problem of power production and supply is resolved. This does not mean that the production enterprises now in the pipeline should be stopped.
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