PDD should harness power potential of 15,000 MW: Mehbooba

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today directed the Power Development Department (PDD) to harness the identified potential of around 15,000 MW and devise a comprehensive plan for power generation, transmission and distribution systems so that supply of electricity is ensured to the consumers.
Chairing a high-level PDD meeting, in which Deputy Chief Minister and power minister Nirmal Singh was also present, she also asked the department to take necessary steps to clear mounting liabilities on account of power purchase.
"Power is a key enabler for the economy and PDD will have to firm up timelines to ensure timely execution of projects. The power scenario remains sluggish and we need to do more, as the state has potential to generate far more," Mehbooba said.

She asked PDD to harness the identified power potential of around 15,000 MW, out of which the State was only able to generate 3,272 MW of electricity, to tide over its shortage.
Officers informed Mehbooba that against Rs 5,247 crore required for power purchase, a budgetary allocation of Rs 3,785 crore was made.
"To meet the widening gap between power purchased and revenue realised, the shortfall will have to be bridged by issuance of bonds by the State government," they said.

The CM also asked the PDD to commission projects, under construction, like Parnai, Lower Kalnai, Hanu and Dah as well as those in IPP like Rattle HEP within stipulated time.

She was presented a roadmap for capacity addition of 6,254 MW in next six years. 50 MW generation of power through 13 state sector, 1679 MW through 5 central sector and 1210 MW through big and small IPP projects.
She also asked the Power Secretary to ease bottlenecks in implementation of flagship schemes like RAPDRP (Restructured Accelerated Power Development & Reforms Programme), DDUGJY (Deen Dayal Upadhayaya Gram Jyoti Yojana) and IPDS (Integrated Power Development Scheme).
Taking up the issue of frequent power cuts, Mehbooba directed PDD to make a "Summer Preparedness Plan" to ensure availability of power and strict adherence to power cut schedule so that consumers do not face any hardships.

To address this, Mehbooba said withdrawal of power at the transmission level was being enhanced by 300 MW after augmentation of Hiranagar Gladni 220 KV Line by May 15.
Rs 2000 crore has also been kept in the Prime Minister's Development Package for mini-hydel projects, between 9 and 15 MW, which will help in further harnessing the power potential in J&K, she said.
As per the information collected from seven subdivisions,
the CAG said the number of disconnected installations stood at 977 with an outstanding power charges of Rs 31.94 crore with an ED implication of Rs 7.02 crore, which was recoverable as of July 2015.

"None of the cases has been referred to land revenue authorities for recovery," it said.
Out of outstanding ED of Rs 7.55 crore payable by Salal Hydroelectric Power Station Jyotipuram for the cost of energy supplied (1998-2010), Rs 4.44 crore had been recovered between 2011 and 2014, leaving a balance of Rs 3.11 crore recoverable as of March 2015, the report said.
It said though a revenue cell functioning as an internal audit wing was in operation in the department, the efficacy of the wing was impaired in the absence of any audit plans, manuals or guidelines for conduct of internal audit and mechanism for follow up on internal audit findings.

He said a committee under the chairmanship of the Chief
Secretary has been constituted to frame an appropriate policy for undertaking regularisation of casual and need-based workers.
While referring to the un-scheduled power cuts, Singh said there is a huge gap of 582 MW between the peak demand and peak availability which is also due to the fact that only 16 lakh consumers are registered with PDD whereas 28 lakh are registered with the CA&PD department.
On the smart city initiatives undertaken by the government, he said 2nd draft of Smart City Proposals (SCPs) in respect of both the capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar have been prepared and is under improvement in consultation with stakeholders and will be submitted to the Ministry of Urban Development in February 2017

The Deputy Chief Minister said five cities -Jammu, Srinagar, Anantnag, Leh & Kargil- have been selected for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation for revamping drainage management, improvement of water supply, urban transport system etc and total allocation under it is Rs 593.05 crore for years 2015-2020.
"Contracts amounting to Rs 120 crore have been awarded against 12 projects and funds to the tune of 27 crore have been released in favour of implementing agencies for execution of these works," he said.
On the Swacch Bharat Mission, the Deputy Chief Minister said the estimated cost of the mission for the state is Rs 620.68 crore which would be used for construction of individual household, community and public toilets, solid waste management etc.

He said, "We contemplate to construct 94,091 individual household toilets, 2,078 community toilets and ensuring Open Deification Free (ODF) towns and cities.
He said steps are being taken to get 21 towns in the state declared as ODF by March. Four AMRUT cities - Jammu, Srinagar, Anantnag & Kargil - have also been proposed to be declared ODF whereas 36 wards have been declared as ODF by JMC and Leh town has also been declared as ODF in 2016.
19 clusters have been formed for the scientific disposal of solid waste covering all the urban towns and THE two capital cities of the state, the Deputy Chief Minister, said, adding land has been identified for all the clusters except Banihal cluster and DPRs have been prepared for 16 of them at an estimated cost of Rs 419.54 crore.