Union Minister of State for Development of North –Eastern Region (Independent Charge), Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, Member Parliament from Udhampur constituency and Chairman of District Electricity Committee, Dr. Jitendra Singh, visited Udhampur and chaired the meeting of District Electricity Committee, here today.The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Finance and IT, Pawan Kumar Gupta, MLA Ramnagar, R S Pathania, MLA Chenani, Dinanath Bhagat, DC Udhampur, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Chief Engineer, EMRE, Ashwani Gupta, ADC, Angrez Singh Rana, SSP Udhampur, Suleman Choudhary, SE EMRE, Sunil Gupta, Joint Director Planning, Rakesh Jamwal, XEN EMRE, Chamail Singh, committee members and senior officers of various departments of the district.
While speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister said that by next 15 months, all villages of district Udhampur shall be electrified. He said that committee should have a spirit of improving services of Power Development Department. He also appreciated efforts of Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary for his various development works in the district.Union Minister added the aim of Deendayal Upadhaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY) is to ensure electrification to the last village. He stressed that there should be judicious distribution of electrification coverage in each constituency under DDUGJY. He instructed DC Udhampur, Dr Shahid Iqbal to make a proper projection to the PDD department regarding demand of Transformers and additional funds for strengthening the power sector in the district. He also directed DC Udhampur to start a helpline number for public grievance redressal regarding issues pertaining to power department.
On the occasion, Union Minister also recommended enhancement of funds from existing 40 Crore to 80 Crore under DDUGJY and from 16 Crore to 20 Crore under Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS). He also asked MOS Finance & IT and all the MLA’s to follow up and monitor targets achieved by PDD.MOS Finance & IT, Pawan Kumar Gupta emphasised enhancement of funds under DDUGJY and IPDS. He also raised issues pertaining to Earthing, Lightening arrester, strengthening of HT/ST Line and expedition of electrification process in the District.MLA Ramnagar, R S Pathania and MLA Chenani, Dinanath Bhagat also raised various issues regarding upgradation of transformers, judicious distribution of share of electrification cover, separate feeder for Industrial estate Battal Ballian, electric poles at Chenani and Ramnagar, construction of more receiving stations at Ramnagar, Transformer bank, early coverage of Un-electrified villages under DDUGJY etc.Earlier, DC Udhampur briefed the Union Minister about the status of all approved centrally sponsored schemes like DDUGJY, R-APDRP and IPDS.SE, EMRE also presented a brief power point presentation of all proposed and approved works under CSS of the PDD.