Union Secretary Power Alok Kumar reviews progress of power sector works across J&K

SRINAGAR : Union Secretary Power, Shri Alok Kumar today chaired a meeting to review the progress of various power sector related works and issues in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.

The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, PDD, J&K, Rohit Kansal; Joint Secretary Power, GoI, Vishal Kapoor; ED, Power Finance Corporation, CMD NHPC Ltd, MD KPDCL, MD JPDCL, MD JKPDC, Executive Directors of NHPC Ltd & REC Ltd, Chief Engineers of Distribution, Projects and Transmission of JPDCL/KPDCL, and other concerned.

At the outset, Principal Secretary PDD, Rohit Kansal gave a detailed presentation on the progress of the power sector in distribution, transmission and Hydro projects across J&K.

The Secretary during the meeting was also briefed about the energy demand and consumption in the Union Territory.

It was also informed that in order to liquidate Power Purchase liabilities, JK has availed soft loans to the tune of Rs 11029.47 Cr offer from Government of India to clear liabilities of power purchase to GENCOS and TRANSCOS. Besides, Kansal also informed the Secretary that various compliances have been made which include revised tariff, pre-paid metering, power purchase optimization as well as power supply to 41781 defaulters was disconnected in addition to recovery of Rs 4106.63 lakh arrears and extensive inspection drives.

The meeting was told that the revenue realization has increased by 23.16 percent wherein Rs 954 crore was realized last year and 1176 crore realized ending September this year.

Kansal said that the J&K PDD’s main focus is to increase revenue, reduce losses and incentivize the employees of the Power Department for which a pilot incentive scheme Revenue Enhancement Scheme (RES) has been proposed.

With respect to e-governance/IT initiatives, the Secretary was told about the Digitization Database of Distribution Transformers, achievement of 100 percent feeder metering, feeder data monitoring through state of the art system, 647 urban feeder of JKPDD on-boarding on the National Power Portal and consumer care center for complaints and grievances.

While complementing the J&K PDD for successfully integrating IT assets of PDD, the Secretary said that J&K has done great work with respect to IT solutions in the power sector.

The Secretary also enquired about the functioning of the IT wing of the department, manpower and availability of equipments.

On digital payments, he was informed that the digital payments have jumped manifold and J&K is ranked 3rd across India with a 278 percent increase in digital payments.

On the power generation front, the meeting was informed that 1400 MW is nearing completion with Pakal Dul (100MW), Ratle (850 MW) and Kiru (624 MW) are under construction while historic MOUs were also signed this year.

With respect to generation of clean energy, the Secretary was informed that 9 MW solar power plant is being established at Pampore township of Kashmir, Kishenganga Dam small hydel project to light up Gurez is also under construction, besides 12MW small hydro power project at Karnah is under construction besides 100 year old heritage Mohra project, built in 1902 is being revived.

While discussing the transmission sector of PDD, it was informed that the J&K has witnessed a 150 percent leap in the last two years. During the last 70 years from 1947 to 2019, J&K had 8394 MVA transmission capacity and from April 2019 to March 31, 2022, more 3806 MVA will be added.

The meeting was also told that the projects lying dormant or languishing for the last several years have been revived at a speedy manner with a total of 82 projects in different areas to be revived in the UT.

On the distribution front, the major achievements were discussed and projects taken under IPDS, PMDP-U and R, DDUJY and other centrally sponsored schemes were also discussed in detail.

Earlier, on his arrival here, the Secretary inspected the 140MVA, 132/33 GSS Rawalpora Transmission Line Maintenance Division-II of JKPTCL. The Secretary was informed that the grid sub-station caters to a large chunk of consumers of southern areas of Srinagar city.

On the occasion, the Secretary inspected different sections and also enquired about the equipment being installed at the station.

The Secretary also visited the construction site of 3X50MVA, 132/33 GIS Tengpora here.

The Secretary inspected different sections of the station and enquired about the completion timeline of the station.

On the occasion, he was informed that supply of 50MVA, 132/33 power transformer, supply of 33kv GIS equipment, supply of C&R Panels etc have been received besides installation of power transformers has been done at the site.