The third meeting of Committee constituted by the Central Government for formulation of a roadmap envisaging 24×7 power supply in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh regions was held here today under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary Industries UP Government, Alok Kumar.
The Committee has been assigned with the responsibility of preparing a prospective power plan for UTs of J&K and Ladakh taking into consideration the adequacies and inadequacies in different sectors to realize the target of round-the-clock power supply to all the consumers.
Secretary, Power Development Department, M Raju; CEO, REC, R Lakshmanan; Managing Director, JKPDCLK, Mohammad Aijaz, representatives from Tata Power and PWC Delhi and other concerned attended the meeting.
Secretary PDD presented a detailed stock of restricted and unrestricted demand being met in Jammu and Kashmir regions as per the available infrastructure and resources. He informed the meeting that the department has undertaken several infrastructure development works under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes which are expected to be completed by the end of this year thus improving the power scenario to a great extent.
M Raju said the department has also worked out the requirement to fill the infrastructure gap for providing 24×7 power supply to consumers in all districts of J&K for which the detailed project reports in both distribution and transmission sectors have been formulated and forwarded for financial assistance.
The Committee was also informed that the Corporations formed after unbundling of the power sector have been made fully functional from February 2020 by formation of respective BoDs.
It was informed that the JKPDCL has drawn up a roadmap for systematic capacity addition by harnessing large hydel potential which is anticipated to make J&K energy surplus by 2025. This would be possible with the development of 22 SHPs/Mega Hydel projects, which will also help in achieving the RPO targets set by the Government of India.
The Committee also held detailed discussion with the Chief Engineers and the representatives of PGCIL regarding the development of inter and intra-J&K transmission systems. The progress of the ongoing transmission projects was also reviewed.
Under the distribution sector, it was informed that installation of smart meters has already been started in Jammu and Srinagar cities, which will be further extended to all the consumers of J&K within next two years. This will not only facilitate proper energy accounting but will also enhance consumer satisfaction.
The Committee stressed upon the PDD officers to intensify their enforcement activities so that the losses in the power sector could be minimized.
Detailed discussions were also held on the need for overall institutional reforms and efficiency improvement in the sector and it was suggested that for effective monitoring and timely execution of the projects, project monitoring units be constituted in all the Corporations of the power sector.