Srinagar, Aug 26: The Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah today said the Power Development Department was resorting to unscheduled power cuts rather than making efforts to realize the revenue and avoid disruption in power supply.
 “The failure or lagging behind in the revenue collection calls for electricity curtailment and it had been observed that the PDD goes for it rather than making efforts to realize the tariff,” Omar told a meeting held to discuss issues pertaining to the power supply and revenue collection.
 He asked the PDD to ensure hundred percent revenue collections instead of going for curtailments.
 Underscoring the importance of power sector in the development of the state, Omar called for reforms to bridge the gap between the energy supply and revenue collection.
 “My endeavour is to make power available to the people round the clock for both domestic and commercial use.
  “The revenue collection should be incentivised from the linesmen level so that field staff is encouraged to put efforts in this process”, he said.
 He said awareness cum collection camps in rural areas could prove fruitful for the purpose. “I want a concrete proposal from the Department regarding incentivising the revenue collection process”, he said and fixed one months time for the purpose.
 He asked the PDD to move a proposal for providing benefits of SRO-43 to the Daily Wagers of the Department so that their families receive necessary succour in case of untoward incidents to the DW while performing the duties.
 Omar directed for holding monthly meetings to review the status of power supply and revenue collection under the chairmanship of Finance Minister adding he would himself chair such meetings quarterly. He directed for opening revenue collection centres in the areas where bills were not collected through bank branches.   
 The Principal Secretary PDD, B R Sharma said two grid stations of 220 KV capacities were being commissioned shortly and over 1000 sub stations computerized to make billing process smooth and easy. He said PDD also intends to meter the 11  KV and 33 KV feeders and put in place an automation, networking web self service under R-APDRP in the State. He said there had been over 12 percent growth in the consumption of power in the State in 2009-10 as compared to the previous year.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST