Union Minister of State for Power, R K Singh took a detailed review of the J&K’s power sector in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Governor, Satya Pal Malik at SKICC here today.B B Vyas Advisor to Governor, BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary, J&K, Dr PV Ramesh, CMD REC; K B Agarwal, Chairman, CVPPL, Navin Kumar Choudhary, Principal Secretary Finance; Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary Planning; Hirdesh Kumar, Commissioner/ Secretary, Power Development Department; Sheikh Fayaz, Secretary, Science & Technology, Joint Secretary Distribution, Ministry of Power, senior executives of Central PSUs; PGCIL, RECPDCL, RECPTCL, officers from State PSUs; JKSPDC, CVPPPL-and senior officers of the Power Development Department attended the meeting.Commissioner/Secretary, PDD, Hirdesh Kumar made a detailed presentation on the implementation of the flagship programme Saubhagya (Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana). He also gave an overall picture of the generation, transmission and distribution plans of the state and the implementation status of various hydroelectric projects being implemented by JKSPDC and CVPPL.Commissioner/ Secretary, PDD informed that the state has achieved 100% electrification of un-electrified villages before the stipulated timeline of 30th April, 2018. He further informed that out of 3.82 lakh un-electrified households as on 10-10-2017, 1.19 lakh households have been electrified till date and the remaining households shall be electrified by 30th November 2018. In the last 20 days alone, 60,000 households have been electrified and at this rate, the department is confident of electrifying all remaining 2.6 lakh households by 30th November, 2018.
The Union Power Minister was further informed of the progress under Centrally Sponsored Schemes of DDUGJY, IPDS, RGGVY-II and PMDP, of which work on 150 projects have been completed and in 153 projects work is in progress.The Union Minister expressed satisfaction over the implementation of Saughagya scheme and complimented the state for planning to achieve 100% electrification of households. He also showed satisfaction on the progress of household electrification and implementation of other centrally sponsored schemes.The Governor and Union Power Minister stressed upon RECPDCL that the work on smart /pre-paid metering should be immediately tendered and installation of the envisaged 9 lakh prepaid meters and 2 lakh smart meters should be completed on priority to reduce the huge AT&C losses and improve collection efficiency. The Union Minister asked Commissioner / Secretary, PDD that those areas where bill payment is high should be provided power supply 24x7. This would be a reward for these areas.Further, the Union Minister stressed the need to increase the generation capacity in the state owing to the vast hydro power potential of approximately 20,000 MW in the state.Chief Secretary informed that the state government has decided to take up development of 850 MW Ratle Hydroelectric Project through a Joint Venture between the centre and the state government. It was also informed that CVPPPL is developing 1000 MW Pakal Dul and 624 MW Kiru and 540 MW Kawar HEPs.
The Union Minister agreed to help expedite the work on these projects.Towards reforming the power sector, the meeting was informed that the state has made J&K Tradeco Operational. The step will save penalties on power purchase bills due to late payment and provide opportunity for incentive for timely payments. It was also informed that steps towards demand side management have been taken by way of replacing energy inefficient incandescent lamps with 9 watt LED lamps. Against target of 80 lakh lamps, 79.6 Lakh lamps have been distributed till date at subsidized rates and the scheme has been extended upto March, 2019 so that more consumers get benefitted by reduction in the energy bill of the consumers and improve AT&C losses. Governor stressed close monitoring of all the projects under implementation and directed the PDD to ensure close inter-departmental co-ordination, particularly with Central PSUs which are implementing agencies, e.g. PGCIL, RECPDCL and RECTPCL, and directed them to complete all these works well before the envisaged time limit of 24 months.The Governor and Union Power Minister desired that the vision of state PDD for achieving 24x7 power supply in the entire state should be achieved well before 2019 and also stressed upon achieving 100% electrification of households before 30th November, 2018.The Governor also directed that on the eve of festivals like Eid, Muharram, Diwali, Gurupurab etc and during the examination of children and winters, 24X7, power supply should be made available. The Union Minister assured that full demand of power requirement of J&K shall be made available.