J&K to be power surplus, have 24X7 electricity: Centre

Union Min R K Singh, LG Sinha e-inaugurate power projects worth Rs 118 Cr

Srinagar, Oct 15: The Government of India is committed to extend all possible support to J&K across generation, transmission and distribution sectors to make the UT power surplus and provide round-the-clock electricity to all the citizens.
This was stated by Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy, R. K. Singh, who is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

Singh was speaking on the sidelines of the inaugural ceremony of six transmission and distribution projects worth Rs 118 crore which were jointly e-inaugurated by the Union Minister and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha here at Raj Bhavan.

The projects include 100 MVA,132/33 KV GSS Nowbugh Chadura with 18 Kms D/C 132 kV Transmission Line; Distribution Strengthening works in Circle Bijbehara, Sumbal, Kupwara and Shopian towns; 33/11kV 10MVA Sub Stations at Industrial Estate Khonmoh, Super Speciality SMHS Srinagar and Cheeniwuder completed under various UT and Central Schemes.

Speaking on the occasion, LG Sinha outlined the efforts made by the government to meet the power supply-demand of the people.
“A strong power sector means ease of living, industrialization, employment generation. We are strengthening J&K’s power infrastructure which remained dilapidated for the last several decades,” he said.

The LG further outlined how the UT had attained remarkable progress not just in adding over 150 percent transformation capacity but also succeeding in increasing revenues by over 23 percent.

The UT government was already working on detailed plans to add infrastructure, address obsolescence and cut down losses, he added.
“We have eliminated the past practices of delays and have accelerated the pace of execution of power projects. Now long overdue upgradation of power infrastructure and languishing projects are being completed in record times,” observed the LG.
On the occasion, the union territory presented an investment plan of Rs. 12000 crore by 2025 in transmission and distribution sectors. The plan envisages strengthening infrastructure as well prepare a future-ready power infrastructure that would not just provide power on demand to all citizens but would also cater to the industrial demand in line with the proposed investment of Rs 28,400 crores under new industrial policy.
In the transmission sector, the UT suggested evacuation of renewable power, both Solar and wind from Ladakh, through J&K and presented a detailed proposal. It was agreed that the comprehensive Rs 4971 crore investment plan prepared by the UT with the support of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) would be executed immediately. JKPDD would explore the option of a Joint Venture Company between the J&K TRANSCO and any reputed CPSU like PGCIL to execute the projects.

On the distribution side, the Union Minister reiterated his commitment of full support to the UT under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme and asked J&K would prepare a comprehensive plan by including the latent power increase predicted on account of the industrialization of J&K and by conducting area wise system studies including a comprehensive gap analysis and a future proof roadmap.
It was agreed that as a first step, J&K DISCOMS would introduce a new arrangement in the current year to maximum power to all feeders with the least losses and where electricity meter coverage is progressively saturated. RECPDCL was asked to accelerate the pace of installation of meters so as to complete the installation of 2 lakh meters by March 2022.

Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, PDD; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the LG; SKG Rahate, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power; RS Dhillon, CMD PFC; AK Singh, CMD NHPC; Dr RP Singh, Chairman JKPCL; Vishal Kapoor, Joint Secretary, MOP; senior officials from Ministry of Power GoI and UT government attended the inaugural ceremony.

Earlier, the Union Minister took a detailed review of the power scenario of J&K including status of implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).

The Principal Secretary PDD presented a brief overview of power demand, availability, consumer mix and energy consumption.

Referring to the IT sector and e-governance initiatives, Secretary (Power) J&K informed the meeting that to ensure data authenticity and integrity, the Department has initiated the process of monitoring energy flow, consumption, revenue realization and other critical information related to the feeders to monitor AT&C losses, feeder-wise outages and reliability indices on real-time basis through an in-house developed e-portal.
The department has achieved 100 percent feeder metering and a total of 647 Urban Feeders of JKPDD have been on-boarded on the National Power Portal (NPP) and the process of on-boarding of remaining feeders is in process, the meeting was told.

Similarly, for improving the life cycle of DTs, an innovative step of assigning Unique Identification Number (UIN) to all the DTs, punching of UIN on the DTs and maintenance of the computerized database of DTs containing complete technical details/repair history is already underway.
Various steps have also been taken to improve consumer responsiveness which includes the establishment of separate cloud-based e-customer care centres at Jammu and Srinagar cities for end-to-end redressal of consumer complaints, social media interactions through Twitter handle and formation of WhatsApp groups at all levels.

It was informed that all the projects, sanctioned under different CSS stand awarded to the implementing agencies and are at different stages of execution. Secretary PDD highlighted the difficulties being faced in some projects and requested support of the Ministry of Power.
Later, the Union Minister visited Gurez where he inspected the upcoming SHP for providing supply to the local area. He also directed NHPC to commission another 16 MW SHP in Gurez to cater to the needs of the local population.

Pertinently, green corridor for renewable power evacuation proposed Rs 175 crore transmission line for grid power to Gurez.

On the demand of the locals for stable grid power, the Union Minister issued directions to the Ministry to assist J&K in removing all technical and financial bottlenecks and ensuring the completion of the line to Gurez on priority.

Prioritise saturation of second dose of COVID vaccine: LG Sinha to DCs

Congratulates officers for achieving 100% coverage of first dose of vaccination
Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha Friday congratulated the health department and district administrations for achieving a new milestone of 100 percent coverage of first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the union territory for 18-plus age group.

He also directed the district administrations to prioritise the saturation of the second dose of the vaccine.

The Lieutenant Governor was chairing the weekly meetings to review corona containment measures and status of vaccination coverage with the COVID Task Force and Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police.

The LG impressed upon the DCs and SPs for robust implementation of COVID protocols and following SoPs in their respective districts.
During the meeting, the DCs were directed to take prior measures for preventing dengue in their respective districts.

Meanwhile, the LG also passed directions to all the DCs on a number of issues of public importance, including check on the rates of minor minerals, implementation of transportation charges for minor minerals fixed by the Transportation department, besides others.

Vivek Bhardwaj, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department gave a detailed presentation on the COVID containment measures and weekly trend in the cases.
Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Dilbag Singh, DGP; Atal Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department; Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary to the Government, Home Department; Shailendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Government, Public Works (R&B) Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor; Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Dr. Raghav Langer, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Deputy Commissioners and SSPs, attended the meetings, in person and through virtual mode.