Principal Secretary, Power Development and Information Departments, Rohit Kansal, chaired a high level meeting to review the functioning of Power Development Department (PDD) of Budgam district.
He took a first-hand appraisal of all ongoing central and UT level projects in the district, besides reviewing the winter preparedness, languishing projects and other projects under CAPEX budget of the district.
The Deputy Commissioner Budgam, Shahbaz Mirza welcomed the Principal Secretary and briefed him on the power situation of the district. This was followed by a detailed presentation on the power scenario. The Principal secretary was briefed that the 50 MVA Nowbugh Chadoora grid station which had been languishing for nearly a decade was completed this year. As a result, major relief had been provided to Nagam, Charar e Sharief and other areas by way of reduction in curtailment hours.
Kansal said in order to provide further relief to the people, the 10 MVA Waterwani receiving station should be completed and commissioned by the 15th of December. He also directed the officers for the augmentation of Budgam grid station to be done next year and removal of all other bottlenecks for improving the power sector in the district.
Kansal said that considering that power supply has been enhanced significantly in most of the Budgam district a reasonable and fair curtailment schedule has to be properly framed and strictly adhered to. He sought details from the officers about the unscheduled power cuts and disturbed power supply and directed them to strictly ensure that no unscheduled cuts were imposed and in case of any exigency adequate information should be shared with the consumers. He pointed out that people acknowledge the genuine difficulties of the department provided details are shared with the consumers openly and transparently. He also directed the concerned officers to seek regular feedback from the public and make redressal of genuine grievances, which come through different media, a regular feature.
While reviewing the position of AT&C losses and revenue generation, the Principal Secretary regretted that the position of losses and revenue collection remained a matter of serious concern. He observed that reduction of losses and uninterrupted supply were two sides of the same coin and if losses were brought doen below 20%, the KPDCL would be in a position to supply uninterrupted power. Conversely, if illegal power usage and theft continued unabated, the position of the department to supply power would be severely constrained. Kansal also sought a detailed list of all the feeders which suffer more than 80 percent losses and directed the field staff to take immediate remedial action.
He also took serious note of the use of crude heating devices which were not only illegal but also a safety hazard. He asked the DC Budgam Shahbaz Mirza to provide all possible support to the department in carrying out intensive drives to seize crude heaters besides seeking support from the public in this regard. He also appealed to the public to make judicious use of power and desist from illegal use of power.
Later the Principal Secretary also visited the Nowbug grid station and reviewed its functioning. He reviewed the progress in the work of further augmentation of the grid by way of addition of 50 MVA capacity and directed that the work should be expedited and completed in the current financial year.
Among others the meeting was attended by Managing Director Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited Basharat Qayoom, Secretary (Tech) Bashir Ahmad Dar, Chief Engineer KPDCL Aijaz Ahmed, Chief Engineer projects Javed Dar, Chief Engineer Transmission Hashmat Qazi and Superintending Engineers, Executive engineers of different wings besides other field staff.
