STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh on Monday said that with the implementation of several flagship schemes in progress under power sector, the government would ensure uninterrupted power supply by 2019 at affordable prices, besides also ensuring augmentation of the already existing infrastructure and improving the transmission capacity.
Winding up the discussion on demand of grants, the Deputy Chief Minister, while enumerating various initiatives undertaken in the power sector, said that the government would be providing Rs. one crore to each constituency for upgrading the electric infrastructure in these areas. He said that the Deputy Commissioners would be the nodal officers and the works would be undertaken on the recommendations of the concerned legislator. He said this would ensure area based development and would be done on the demands projected by the local populace.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that 24X7 Power For All (PFA) document has been finalized and signed with the Union Government, which provides road map of providing 24X7 quality power to the consumers at affordable prices. He said that by December 2019 24X7 supply of electric power would be provided to the consumers of the state.
Dr. Singh while referring to the return of power projects to the state said that it is enshrined in the Agenda of Alliance and necessary steps are under way with the concerned corporations so that they can be returned back to the state. He said that this would further augment our electric generation capacity. “A Committee has also been formulated to work out a mechanism by which the losses suffered by the state on account of these would be compensated and we are hopeful that we would be given the requisite compensation”, he added.
Referring to the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses, the Deputy Chief Minister said that a robust mechanism has been put in place which has ensured that these have been brought down from 64% in 2014-15 to 59% during 2015-16. He said that there are 28 lakh registered families with the CA&PD department and only 16 lakh registered with the Power Development Department and the short fall would soon be reconciled.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that in order to ensure upgradation of the power infra various schemes have been undertaken and the RAPDRP has been accelerated by taking up the issue with the executing agency i.e. IRCON. He said that major headway has been registered in the execution of the scheme meant to upgrade the infra in the urban areas. “The scheme would also ensure the checking of transformer damage which is one of the major concerns confronting the department”, added.
While referring to Deen Dayal Upadaye Grameen Jyoti Karan Yojana (DDUGJY), the Deputy Chief Minister said that out of the projected cost of Rs. 1200 crore, an amount of Rs. 616 crore have been released. He said that the electrification of all un-electrified hamlets would be done under the same flagship programme. “3.56 lakh households are without electricity and they would be covered under the scheme by December 2019”, he maintained.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that an amount of Rs. 414 crore has also been released under Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) which would be for the continual up-gradation and creation of infrastructure for electricity distribution.
Dr. Singh while referring to the revenue generated during this year said that an amount of Rs. 1937.4 crore has been realized which is 11% more than that realized during the last fiscal. He said that the project of smart metering would also be implemented which would ensure that the electric pilferage is checked and monitored and under the guidelines of the UDAY Scheme 100% metering would be ensured by 2019-20.
The Deputy Chief Minister while referring to the re-structuring of the outstanding power purchase debt said that under UDAY and issuance of bonds by the Government, the interest burden on the state would be reduced by Rs. 700 crore.
Later, the House passed the grants of Power, Housing and Urban Development Departments, for the year 2016-17, which were moved by the Deputy Chief Minister, amounting to Rs 14641.60 crore with voice vote.
The members who took part in the discussion on the grants include Nawang Rigzin Jora, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, B. A. Dar, Mian Altaf Ahmed,. M. Y. Tarigami, Sat Paul Sharma, Vikar Rasool Wani, Abdul Rahim Rather, Shakti Raj Parihar, Ms. Shamim Firdous, Anjum Fazli, G.M Saroori, Rajesh Gupta, Pawan Kumar Gupta, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Usman Majid, Shah Mohammad Tantray, Ch. Sukhnandan, Ravinder Raina, Mohammad Akbar Lone, Ch. Mohammad Akram, Mohammad Khalil Bandh, Jeewan Lal, Mubarak Gul, Deldan Namgyal, Noor Mohammad Sheikh, Dinananth Bhagat, Sheikh Ishfaq Jabbar, Neelam Kumar Langeh, Abdul Majid Paddar, Javid Rana, Asgar Ali Karbaliae, Raja Manjoor, Rajeev Sharma, Yawar Ahmed Mir, Kamal Verma, Ranbir Singh Pathania, Gagan Bhagat, Ch. Qamar Hussain, Javid Hassan Baig, Kuldeep Raj, Divinder Kumar Manyal and Krishen Lal.
Later, the members, who moved the Cut Motions on the Grants, withdrew after the satisfactory reply from the Deputy Chief Minister.
