Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Kumar Singh today informed the Legislative Assembly that several flagship schemes have been launched for augmentation and strengthening of generation, transmission and distribution network to achieve self-sufficiency and provide 24x7 supply to the consumers.Winding up the discussion on the Demands for Grants of the Power sector in the Legislative Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister welcomed the suggestions put forth by the Legislators regarding the functioning of the Departments under his charge.Dr Singh said he and his team of officers would take a cue from the valuable suggestions of the Legislators and redouble their efforts to improve the functioning of the power and housing & urban development sectors.Referring to the power sector, the Deputy Chief Minister said that several hydroelectric projects have been undertaken in the state under close monitoring mechanism for ensuring that these are completed within the stipulated timeline. “Two projects of 9MW capacity each in Dah and Hanu in district Leh have been completed and the commissioning of these projects shall be done during the current year while the tendering process of 12 MW Karnah HEP has also been initiated”, he said adding that 3 new projects in joint venture with NHPC and Power Trading Corporation are at an advanced stage of tendering.
Giving further details, he said that 300 MW Kishenganga HEP, executed by NHPC is likely to be commissioned this year and it will go a long way in augmenting the power generation capacity.The Deputy CM also referred to restructuring of JKSPDC, one of the major executing agencies associated with the tapping of hydro-electric potential of the state. He said as part of financial engineering of the corporation, the PDD will pay Rs 2400 crore to it and at the time, SPDC will return Rs 4300 crore which it has taken as loan from the State Government over a period of time.He further informed that once these two transactions are done, Rs 1900 crore, the gap between the two transactions shall be infused as equity into the company. Further, fresh valuation of assets is expected to add additional Rs 1000 crore to the equity base of SPDC he added.“In one go, SPDC will become a debt- free company with an equity base of around Rs 3000 crore and post these changes, the company shall go for Initial Public Offering (IPO)”, he said.“The Government is also finalizing the modalities of opening a Letter of Credit with J&K Bank, for timely payment of the power purchase bills. This will ensure power security and annual savings of about Rs 150 crore on account of interest,” he added.Dr Singh said that GoI has sanctioned Rs 1189.59 crore under PMDP for strengthening transmission system at 220kV and 132kV level. “Tenders for all schemes in both Jammu and Kashmir provinces stand issued.
Out of 32 projects 8 stand allotted,” he added.He said to remove existing constraints at transmission level, the department is striving to complete the critical Grid Stations and Transmission lines by well before December, 2018 which include Grid Station, Alusteng, Budgam, Delina, Gladni, 220 KV, Srinagar –Leh, transmission line and 400 KV D/C transmission line NRSS-XXIX from Jalandar-Samba to Amargarh.About augmentation of distribution network, Dr Singh informed that GoI has approved an amount of Rs 616.59 crore under DDUGJY for strengthening the distribution system in rural areas of 21 districts of the state.“The Project Management Agencies and Project Implementation Agencies for all districts stand appointed. 13 districts have been assigned to JKPDD and remaining 8 to PGCIL he said adding that the tenders for other 8 districts shall be awarded within a week’s time which include 3 districts of Jammu (Ramban, Reasi and Udhampur), 3 of Kashmir (Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian) and 2 of Ladakh (Leh and Kargil).The Deputy Chief Minister said that electrification of 102 un-electrified villages of the state is included in the DDUGJY and RGGVY-II schemes, of which 78 un-electrified villages are included in DDUGJY and remaining 24 are included in RGGVY-II.He added that electrification of 22 villages has been achieved till January, 2018 and 26 villages shall be electrified by April, 2018. Remaining 54 villages shall be electrified through off grid mode by June, 2018, he added.For expediting registration of connections of the un-electrified households, Mobile App namely “Gram Jyoti Doot” has been developed and 250 connections have been registered through this App, he informed.He further informed that for strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution networks in 86 towns of the state, GoI has sanctioned Rs 444.50 crore under Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS).
The Dy CM added that the Project Management Agencies (PMA) and Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) have been appointed and tendering is under process.Under PMDP, GoI has sanctioned Rs 2570.14 crore for strengthening of distribution system in rural and urban areas of the state and special focus is being laid on capital cities, industrial towns, Advance Technology interventions, creation of Smart Grids and underground cabling of pilgrimage and tourist destinations, he said.“The scheme also includes replacement of sub-standard conductors and worn out poles and the government has released an amount of Rs 87 crore @ Rs 1.00 crore for each constituency under PMDP” he informed.Giving further details, he said 90 % progress has been achieved under Re-structured Accelerated Power Development & Reforms Programme (R-APDRP), launched in 30 identified towns of the state at an estimated cost of Rs 151.99 crore and the scheme is likely to be completed by March, 2018.He further informed that Part–B of RAPDRP (Infrastructure) scheme has been sanctioned at a cost of Rs 1665.27 crore envisaging conventional distribution strengthening works, installation of High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) and Aerial Bunched cabling in densely populated areas to plug pilferage.“As a step towards energy efficiency, Unnat Jeevan scheme to provide Affordable LEDs and Appliances (UJALA) is under implementation in the state with the assistance of CPSU, Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL)” he informed and added around 78 Lakh LED bulbs have been distributed at a nominal cost (Rs 100 for a pack of 5 lamps) so far.
Dr Singh said that the State Government has signed an MoU with GoI, Ministry of Power under UDAY, under which an amount of Rs 3537.55 crore has been provided to liquidate the outstanding dues of CPSUs, thus reducing the interest cost of about Rs 340.00 crore annually.Informing the House about the present Power Scenario, he said that 3101 MW un-restricted peak load is being recorded against which 2280 MW is being met. “The peak met during 2014-15 was 2043 MW, which means increase of 11.6 %. The present unrestricted energy demand is 18473, against which Energy input is 15667 MU” he added.“On the basis of the requests received by the Department from various quarters including public representatives, the department has proposed grant of Amnesty for 100% waiver of surcharge in respect of various categories of consumers viz Domestic, Agriculture (non- government) etc” he informed.The Deputy CM said that reduction of Electricity Duty has been from 22% to 10% has benefited all categories of consumers across the board.While referring to the initiatives taken to ensure welfare of departmental employees in case of injury or death on duty, the Deputy Chief Minister said that ex-gratia relief has been increased to Rs 3 lakh in case of death, Rs 1 lakh for total disability and Rs 30 thousand for partial disability.
Later the House passed Grants of Rs 1305306.97 lakh of Power Development Department with a voice-vote.Earlier, several members took part in the discussion and gave their valuable inputs for further strengthening the power sector in the state. They include Mian Altaf Ahmad, Nawang Rigzin Jora, Yawar Mir, Satpaul Sharma, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, M Y Tarigami, Shamim Firdous, Sukhnandan Kumar, Vikar Rasool, Mohammad Khalil Bandh, Pawan Kumar Gupta, Kamal Verma, Bashir Ahmed Dar, Rajesh Gupta, Haji Abdul Rashid Dar, Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Mohammad Amin Bhat, Abdul Rahim Rather, Devender Singh Rana, Rajeev Jasrotia, Deldan Namgyal, Abdul Majeed Padder, Mubarak Gul, R S Pathania, G M Saroori, Shah Mohammad Tantray, Mohammad Akbar Lone, Shakti Raj Parihar, Raja Manzoor, Choudhary Mohammad Akram, Altaf Ahmad Wani, Devinder Kumar Manyal, Asgar Ali Karbalie, Javid Hassan Beigh, Daleep Singh Parihar, Javed Rana, Gulzar Ahmad Wani, Choudhary Qamar Hussain, Dinanath Bhagat, Abdul Majeed Larmi, Usman Abdul Majeed, Noor Mohammad Sheikh, Rajeev Sharma and Ravinder Raina.