Union Minister of State with independent charge for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal today promised all help from central government to Jammu & Kashmir for expeditious development of conventional and non-conventional energy sources in the state."Power Minister Piyush Goyal assured all help from central government for expeditious development of conventional and non-conventional energy sources of Jammu & Kashmir," the Union Power Ministry said in a statement.Goyal gave this assurance to the Jammu & Kashmir government during a review meeting of the power sector held today with state officials at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar.Those who attended the meeting included Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Dr Nirmal Singh, Finance Minister (J&K) Dr Haseeb A Drabu, Minister for Science & Technology and Animal Husbandry (J&K) Sajjad Gani Lone, and Minister of State for Industries and Commerce, Power Development and Housing & Urban Development Mohammad Ashraf Mir and several senior officers of the Union Ministry of power and the State Government.
J&K Chief Secretary, Mr Iqbal Khandey was also present at the meeting.During the meeting, a presentation was made by Power Development Department of the state on energy scenario of Jammu & Kashmir.The minister also discussed various issues pertaining to power transmission, distribution, generation and renewable energy in the state.Power Development Department (PDD) is one of the departments of the Jammu & Kashmir government which is responsible for all functions related to transmission and distribution of electric power in the state.The power generation sector is looked after by Jammu & Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC), which was carved out of PDD in 1995.During the meeting, a joint venture agreement between NTPC-JKSPDC was signed for development of thermal power for the state and MoU between J&K government and JKPDD-BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency) was signed to bring out energy efficiency in power transmission and distribution in the state.The Deputy Chief Minter while addressing the meeting raised several issues related to the augmentation of the power sector in the state.During the meeting , presentation was given by Principal Secretary PDD J&K Government on power scenario of J&K State and discussion were held on various issues pertaining to transmission, distribution generation & renewable energy-solar.